So, you’re thinking about getting into the security industry, right? Well, the first thing you’ll want to consider is the pay rate. After all, a job has to pay. It’s the opportunity cost of your free time that you sell to an employer for a fee. And that is your salary. But of course, everyone wants to get as much as possible.
If you’re a business expert, you couldn’t start out as a security guard, learn a lot, build good relationships, work hard and save hard – and you could become a millionaire if you started your own security business.
How much can I earn as a door guard or security guard?
You can expect to earn around £10.64 per hour in England as a door supervisor and £9.47 per hour as a security guard, as detailed by Indeed. The Security Industry Authority has no influence on setting these salaries, as this is simply not the way things work these days.
Go back to the 1970s in the UK, and the country was in a lot of trouble. The unions tried to fix wages and force companies to pay a certain amount to their workers. Famously, Maggie Thatcher set out to break the unions and, in particular, the miners’ strike.
Wages are set in a capitalist society according to the supply and demand of people who have the skills to do the job and are also willing to do it. As much as we would like to pay some people more, it just doesn’t work that way.
However, in recent years, in an attempt to make ‘work pay’, the minimum wage has been introduced and has been gradually increased year on year in line with inflation.
The minimum wage has stubbornly fallen by about 50 pence from the amount calculated by the government as the minimum amount required for a person to live on. The good news is that since the introduction of the National Living Wage in 2016, from 2021 if you are 23 or over you will now be entitled to at least the National Living Wage.
National Minimum Wage Rates from 2021
| NATIONAL LIVING WAGE | £8.91 |
| National Minimum Wage Age 23 and over | £8.91 |
| National Minimum Wage Age 21 and 22 | £8.36 |
| National Minimum Wage Age 18-20 | £6.56 |
Of course, at the SIA, they’d like to see people in the security sector earning more. However, the average rates are above the national living wage, so if you’re currently struggling with a job that only pays you that – the good news – it will only take you a week to get into the industry and start earning. Over the course of a month, that could mean more than £300 extra in your pocket. And if you currently have the bare minimum you need, it will certainly make a big difference to your standard of living. And if you’re between 18 and 20 and only earning £6.56 an hour, you could benefit even more from a pay rise.
The great thing is that you only need to spend around £180 on a course, and it only takes a week. Very few jobs have such a low barrier to entry and such a pay rise, all for a very short and easy time.
Take more courses and earn more
That’s not the end of the story, though; there are plenty of ways to make big money in the security industry by taking more courses. Watch this video with famous bodyguard Olu Johnson. He launched a promising career as a lawyer to work in this jet-setting industry for music industry stars such as the late Prince and models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss.
