Know you are ready for your ACS assessment, indicator by indicator.
ProRota already runs your rota, licences, attendance, check calls and incident reports, which is the evidence the ACS asks for. ACS Readiness turns it into a live view of all 78 indicators, shows what needs fixing, and builds the evidence pack for your assessor.
Your whole assessment on one screen
See how many required achievement levels you meet, your self-assessed score out of 145, and readiness for each of the seven criteria. A countdown runs to your annual assessment, and the list of what needs attention is ordered by impact on your approval.
- Required levels met, criterion bars and self-assessed points
- Assessment, annual return and renewal dates with reminders
- Issues with owners and fix links, not just red dots
On track for the annual assessment
52 of 78 indicators have current evidence
Self-assessed
93 / 145
Auto-evidenced
26
Annual assessment
67 days
Thu 14 Jan · on site
Readiness by criterion
- 1. Strategy13 / 21 pts
- 2. Service delivery11 / 15 pts
- 3. Commercial relationships8 / 18 pts
- 4. Financial management10 / 15 pts
- 5. Resource management6 / 11 pts
- 6. People38 / 52 pts
- 7. Leadership7 / 13 pts
Needs attention
- 3 officers' SIA licences expire before the assessment12 days
- Employment-status confirmation missing for one subcontractor2.4.1
- Lone Working Policy v3.1 acknowledged by 87% of staff87%
Everything you need for ACS, in one platform
The ACS Readiness dashboard builds on the features ACS companies already use in ProRota every day.
Live features that already produce ACS evidence:
SIA licence watch
Staff licences checked against the SIA register, with expiry alerts, so your 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 evidence stays current.
BS7858 screening and vetting
Pre-employment screening in ProRota Screening (identity, right to work, employment history, references, DBS, credit and sanctions), linked to each employee record.
Right to work and visa tracking
Right to work evidence with follow-up dates, and visa expiry monitoring for sponsored staff.
Attendance you can prove
GPS clock-in and clock-out with photos at every site, the evidence assessors look for under 2.4.5 (attendance on customer sites).
Welfare check calls, patrols and site tours
Scheduled check calls for lone workers, and QR checkpoint patrols with time, place and photo evidence.
Incident reporting
Custom iReport templates submitted from the app with photos, GPS and signatures, giving you an incident trail for 2.4.3.
Training records and documents
Qualifications with expiry dates, and company policies published to every employee's app.
The ACS Readiness dashboard adds:
All 78 SIA indicators, numbered as in the workbook
A live checklist for the seven criteria, with owners, due dates, N/A reasons and your self-assessed improvement level for each indicator.
Evidence collected automatically
Licence status, screening, attendance, check calls, incidents, training and working-time data attached to the right indicators, dated and tamper-evident.
Issues to fix, before the assessor finds them
Expiring licences, missing evidence and overdue policy reviews raised as issues with an owner and a fix link. They close themselves when resolved.
Policy control with staff sign-off
Versioned policies, approval, review dates and acknowledgement in the employee app.
Subcontractor register for the 2026 update
ACS status, operatives' licences, vetting, insurance and the employment-status confirmation the 2026 update requires.
One-click evidence pack
A PDF, ZIP and CSV laid out by criterion and indicator, ready for your annual assessment or annual return.
What the ACS assessment actually looks at
The SIA Approved Contractor Scheme measures how well a private security company is run, not just whether its officers hold licences. Your self-assessment workbook has 78 indicators grouped into seven criteria. Each indicator has a required achievement level you must meet to be approved. Most also have improvement levels (0–3) that add up to a performance score out of 145.
The seven criteria and their points
- 1. Strategy (21 points): your mission and values, business plan, success measures, communications and social responsibility.
- 2. Service delivery (15 points): key processes, continuity planning, contracts, subcontractor control, incident procedures and attendance on customer sites.
- 3. Commercial relationship management (18 points): purchasing, tenders, customer site visits, complaints and customer feedback.
- 4. Financial management (15 points): funding, payroll, financial controls, a fit and proper management structure, and insurance.
- 5. Resource management (11 points): document control, data protection, premises, control rooms and equipment.
- 6. People (52 points), the largest criterion: recruitment and screening, staff records, terms and conditions, training, health and safety, working hours, wages and staff feedback.
- 7. Leadership (13 points): leaders' knowledge, values, involvement in improvement and recognition of staff.
Where most evidence comes from
Much of Criterion 6 and Criterion 2 is about things your scheduling system already knows: who is licensed and screened, who turned up on site and when, how welfare check calls and patrols were completed, what incidents were reported, and whether working hours and pay meet the rules. ProRota turns that day-to-day data into dated evidence, so you spend preparation time on the indicators that really need a person, such as strategy, leadership and customer relationships.
The 2025 and 2026 updates
The SIA has updated the workbook twice since the 2022 edition. The 2025 update clarified Criterion 6, including licence dispensation notices. The 2026 update changed indicators 2.4.1 and 4.2.1: subcontractors must be approved contractors unless a defined exception applies, with licences verified on the SIA register and relevant staff vetted, and everyone doing licensable work must be an employee or employee for tax purposes, with no personal service companies anywhere in the supply chain. ProRota's subcontractor register records each subcontractor's ACS status, operatives' licences and screening, and a signed employment-status confirmation.
Dates that catch companies out
Approval runs for three years with an annual assessment. The annual return is due two weeks before your registration-fee anniversary, with the upload window opening eight weeks before. Changes such as a new director must be notified within 21 days. ProRota keeps these dates and reminds the right people in good time.
The ACS checklist, mapped to your data
A sample of what the readiness checklist tracks under each criterion. The full checklist covers all 78 indicators with their SIA numbering.
6. People
52 pts- 6.1.1 Recruitment and screening to BS 7858, licences checked
- 6.1.2 Staff records maintained
- 6.2.3 All staff trained to the required standard
- 6.3.3 Health and safety policy implemented
- 6.4.1 Working-hours legislation followed
- 6.4.2 Wage legislation followed
2. Service delivery
15 pts- 2.2.1 Continuity plan in place
- 2.4.1 Subcontractors agreed and quality-assured (2026)
- 2.4.3 Incident procedures defined
- 2.4.5 Staff attendance on customer sites
- 2.6.1 Performance reviewed against SLAs
4. Financial management
15 pts- 4.2.1 Payroll managed and evidenced (2026)
- 4.2.3 Fit and proper management structure
- 4.2.4 Insurance meets contract requirements
- 4.4.1 Financial performance reviewed
1. Strategy
21 pts- 1.1.1 Approach to business communicated to staff
- 1.1.3 Business plan with review schedule
- 1.3.1 Internal and external communications
- 1.4.1 CSR and environment policy
3. Commercial relationships
18 pts- 3.1.1 Purchasing procedures
- 3.3.1 Customer site visits
- 3.3.2 Complaints procedure
- 3.5.1 Customer opinion reviewed
5. Resource management · 7. Leadership
24 pts- 5.1.1 Current document versions at point of use
- 5.1.2 Data protection compliance
- 5.2.4 Technology improving service and safety
- 7.3.1 Code of ethics implemented
- 7.5.1 Leaders review results
Indicator wording is summarised. The SIA's own workbook and guidance are the authoritative source.
From everyday operations to assessor-ready evidence
Step 1
Set up your ACS profile
Approval reference, sectors, assessing body and key dates. Owners are assigned to each indicator.
Step 2
Evidence collects itself
Licences, screening, attendance, check calls, incidents and training are attached to the right indicators every night.
Step 3
Fix what is flagged
Issues arrive with an owner, a due date and a link to the exact screen where they are resolved.
Step 4
Build the pack
Generate the evidence pack for the assessor, the annual return or your consultant in one go.
Organised the way your assessor reads the workbook
The evidence pack is a single download with a cover summary, your readiness and self-assessed score, and then a folder for every criterion and indicator. Each folder holds the current version of each linked document, plus dated reports produced from ProRota data.
Staff are shown by ID unless you choose to include names. Every pack records when it was built, by whom, against which workbook edition, and a fingerprint of its contents, so you can show exactly what you provided and when.
Northgate-ACS-Evidence-2027-01.zip
- 00 Cover sheet & self-assessment summary.pdf
- 01 Strategy/
- └ 1.1.1/ Mission & values v2.1.pdf
- 02 Service delivery/
- └ 2.4.5/ Attendance by site · last 12 months.xlsx
- 06 People/
- └ 6.1.1/ SIA licence register.xlsx
- └ 6.3.3/ Health & Safety Policy v4.0 + acknowledgements.pdf
- 99 Live ProRota reports/
- └ Check call & patrol performance.xlsx
Why ACS companies run on ProRota
Licences checked against the SIA register
Licence status kept current, not a spreadsheet someone updates once a quarter.
Attendance with GPS and photo
Proof that the right officer was on the right site at the right time, for every shift.
Welfare check calls
Lone-worker check calls at the intervals each site needs, with a record of every answer.
Verifiable patrols
QR checkpoint tours that record the time, place and photo of every scan.
Subcontractor control
A register designed for the 2026 rules on subcontracted operatives.
Consultant-friendly
Give your ACS consultant read-only, time-limited access with comments.
Screening that links up
BS7858 screening in ProRota Screening, connected to the employee record.
Policy control
Versioned policies with staff acknowledgement in the app.
No missed dates
Assessment, annual return, renewal and 21-day notification reminders.
ACS readiness: common questions
What is the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS)?
The ACS is the Security Industry Authority's voluntary quality standard for private security companies. Approved contractors are assessed against a set of indicators covering strategy, service delivery, commercial relationships, financial management, resource management, people and leadership. Many buyers require ACS approval in their tenders.
How is ACS assessed and scored?
The self-assessment workbook has 78 indicators across seven criteria. Each indicator has a required achievement level that must be met for approval. Most also have improvement levels from 0 to 3, which add up to a performance score with a maximum of 145 points. Approval lasts three years, with an annual assessment by your assessing body.
Does ProRota replace the SIA self-assessment workbook?
No. The SIA process still uses its own workbook and your assessing body. ProRota prepares and evidences it: it tracks each indicator, gathers the evidence and produces a pack you can transcribe from and hand to the assessor.
What changed in the 2025 and 2026 ACS updates?
The SIA has published updates to the workbook. The 2025 update clarified Criterion 6 requirements, including licence dispensation notices. The 2026 update changed indicators 2.4.1 and 4.2.1. Subcontractors must be approved contractors unless a defined exception applies, with their staff's licences checked on the SIA register and relevant individuals vetted. Everyone doing licensable work must be an employee or employee for tax purposes, and personal service companies cannot be used anywhere in the supply chain. ProRota's subcontractor register is designed around these changes.
What is in the ACS evidence pack?
A cover summary with your readiness and self-assessed score, then a folder for each criterion and indicator containing the current version of every linked document. It also contains dated reports from ProRota data such as licence registers, attendance and check-call performance, and policy acknowledgement logs. A CSV of status and notes by indicator number is included for the workbook.
Can our ACS consultant use it?
Yes. The readiness dashboard is designed with read-only, time-limited consultant access, with comments on each indicator and every action logged.
How do we get started with ACS Readiness?
Book a demo using the form on this page. We will set up your ACS profile, map the evidence you already hold in ProRota to the 78 indicators and show you the evidence pack.
One platform, every regulator you answer to
ACS Readiness is a management tool. It does not replace the SIA's self-assessment workbook or your assessing body's judgement, and a readiness or self-assessed score is not a prediction of your assessment outcome. Indicator wording is summarised; refer to the SIA's current guidance.
Preparing for an ACS assessment?
Book a demo and we will show you the ACS readiness dashboard, how your existing ProRota data maps to the 78 indicators, and the evidence pack your assessor will see.
- A walkthrough of all 78 indicators
- Your current evidence mapped to the workbook
- The evidence pack your assessor will see