The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter TD, has today announced a restructuring of the fees payable for contractor licences issued by the Private Security Authority (PSA). The PSA has to date licensed contractors in the cash in transit, door supervisor, security guarding and installer of security equipment sectors.
The new fee structure follows proposals submitted to the Minister by the Board of the Authority and sees the turnover fee paid by contractors with a turnover of €300,000 or less reduced from €1,250 to €250. The additional administration charge of €1,000 will remain unchanged and so the overall fee payable by such contractors will now be €1,250 instead of the existing €2,250, a reduction of 45%. Other changes will see the fee for new businesses starting up in the security industry being reduced by 55% from €2,250 to €1,000 while contractors who operate across multiple sectors of the security industry will also benefit from changes to the fee.
The reduction in fee recognises the difficulties encountered by smaller contractors in the current economic climate. Announcing the signing of the Regulation into effect, Minister Shatter said “These contractors are providing a valuable service to local clients and the fee reduction is made in an effort to support their continuing in business. I am particularly delighted at the reduction for new businesses which I hope will encourage entrepreneurs to enter the industry and lead to increased employment.”
The Minister, together with the new Chairman of the PSA Board and the Chief Executive of the PSA, recently co-signed the necessary Regulation into effect, i.e. S.I. No. 293 of 2013, which enables this reduction in fees to be implemented immediately. Furthermore, the new fee structure is to be applied retrospectively from 1 January 2013. As a result, any contractor who falls into this category and who paid the higher fee in respect of an application made or licence granted on or after 1 January 2013 but who would now be eligible for the lower fee, will be refunded the difference, thereby also benefiting from the new lower revised fees structure.
Contractor Licence Fees Effective From The 1st January 2013
Note: Where contractors operate across more than one sector of the industry, the fee will now be based on their combined turnover across all sectors rather than their turnover in each sector, as was previously the case.