ACS Self-Assessment: How to Evidence All 7 Criteria (With Checklist)

The SIA's Approved Contractor Scheme asks a simple question in a long form: is this security company well run? The answer is built from the ACS self-assessment workbook, which your assessing body reviews at your initial and annual assessments.

This guide explains how the workbook is structured and how to evidence it without a last-minute scramble.

How the workbook is scored

The workbook contains 78 indicators grouped into seven criteria. Every indicator has a required achievement level: a pass or fail standard that must be met, or justified as not applicable, for approval. Most indicators also have improvement levels from 0 to 3. Added together, the improvement levels give a performance score with a maximum of 145 points.

Two things follow from that structure. First, approval depends on meeting every required level, not on your score. Second, Criterion 6 (People) carries 52 of the 145 points, so it is where both the risk and the reward are concentrated.

The kinds of evidence assessors look for

Each indicator expects one or more types of evidence:

• Policy: a written statement of how you do something, such as recruitment and screening, health and safety, or complaints.
• Process: a defined way of working that people actually follow, such as incident procedures or subcontractor approval.
• Record: proof that it happened, such as attendance records, training certificates, check-call logs or supervision notes.
• Review: evidence that you looked at results and changed something, such as minutes of a management review, KPI reports or a revised policy.

A policy without records is a common weakness. So is a record nobody ever reviewed.

Criterion by criterion

1. Strategy (21 points)

Mission and values communicated to staff, a business plan with a review schedule, success measures, internal and external communications, corporate social responsibility, and regular review of performance.

2. Service delivery (15 points)

Key processes understood by all, a continuity plan, meeting customer requirements, contract management, subcontractor control (indicator 2.4.1, updated in 2026), incident procedures, attendance of staff on customer sites (2.4.5), and review against service level agreements.

3. Commercial relationship management (18 points)

Purchasing, partnership with suppliers, professional advice to customers, tenders, customer site visits, a complaints procedure (3.3.2), consumer contact, and review of customer feedback.

4. Financial management (15 points)

Funding for the business plan, payroll management (4.2.1, updated in 2026), financial controls, a fit and proper management structure, insurance that meets contract requirements, market analysis and review of financial performance.

5. Resource management (11 points)

Current document versions available where they are used, data protection, premises, control rooms, equipment, and investment in technology that improves service and safety.

6. People (52 points)

Recruitment and screening (6.1.1), staff records (6.1.2), terms and conditions, disciplinary and grievance, equality and diversity, staff opinion, training and development, induction, assignment-specific training, holiday, pensions, health and safety (6.3.3), welfare, appraisal, working hours (6.4.1), wages (6.4.2), and review of staff performance and opinion.

7. Leadership (13 points)

Leaders' knowledge of the sector, involvement in the management system, personal development, a code of ethics, involvement in improvement, recognition, and review of results.

Where the evidence already exists

A large share of Criteria 2 and 6 describes things a scheduling system already knows: who is licensed and screened, who was on which site and when, how welfare check calls and patrols went, what incidents were reported, and whether hours and pay met the rules. If that data is in your workforce system, the task is collecting it into a dated, organised form, not creating it.

The harder indicators tend to be the ones that need a person: business planning, customer and staff opinion gathering, and leadership review. Start those early.

Organising an evidence pack

Assessors read the workbook in order, so organise your evidence the same way:

1. A cover summary: your self-assessed status for each indicator, the improvement level you are claiming, and any not-applicable justifications.
2. One folder per criterion, with one folder per indicator inside it.
3. The current version of each document, with its version number and review date visible.
4. Dated reports from your systems for the period being assessed: licence registers, attendance, check calls, incidents, training.
5. A note of what changed since your last assessment, including any actions from the previous assessor's report.

Dates to keep

Licence Management Service users

Ten indicators carry extra "where applicable" requirements for businesses that use the SIA's Licence Management Service: 1.2.1, 1.2.3, 1.3.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, 6.1.1, 6.2.1, 6.3.4 and 7.3.1. If you use it, check those requirements specifically.

How ProRota helps

Available today: SIA licence watch, BS 7858 screening in ProRota Screening, GPS time and attendance, lone-worker check calls, incident reports, QR checkpoint site tours and training records. These are the raw evidence for much of Criteria 2 and 6.

ACS Readiness tracks all 78 indicators with owners and due dates, attaches ProRota evidence to the right indicator automatically, and builds the evidence pack in the structure above.