What Is Close Protection? The Complete UK Guide (2026)
The short version: What Is Close Protection? The Complete UK Guide (2026) — published rates, real UK playbook, SIA-licensed.
Close protection is the proactive, intelligence-led security of a specific person — the principal — by a trained, SIA-licensed Close Protection Officer (CPO). It is not bouncing. It is not surveillance. It is route planning, advance work, threat assessment, secure transport and, only as a last resort, physical intervention. This is the plain-English UK guide.
Close Protection vs Bodyguard — Same Thing?
In the UK, 'close protection officer' is the legal term — the licence the SIA issues. 'Bodyguard' is the everyday word. Same role, same person, same training. A door supervisor or security guard is not a CPO.
What a CPO Actually Does in a Typical Day
Reads the day's brief and threat picture; conducts an advance recce of any new venue; walks the principal from front door to vehicle; drives or rides ahead in convoy; sweeps restaurants and meeting rooms before the principal enters; manages press and crowd interactions; writes a shift handover.
The SIA Close Protection Licence
A 150-hour course covering law, conflict management, threat assessment, surveillance awareness, route selection, venue security, communications, first aid and physical intervention. The licence is renewable every three years and is verifiable at register.the-sia.org.uk.
Who Needs Close Protection?
UHNW families, listed-company executives during transactions, celebrities during press cycles, principals with a credible specific threat, witnesses and complainants in litigation, family members during divorces, and visiting international principals.
How Much Does Close Protection Cost in the UK?
Single SIA CPO: pricing confirmed in a written quote per 12-hour shift. Two-officer team: pricing confirmed in a written quote. Executive detail with security chauffeur: pricing confirmed in a written quote. Long-term residential family programmes: pricing confirmed in a written quote/week.
Booking a CPO in the UK
Confidential triage call (5 minutes), fixed written quote subject to location, requirements and officer availability, NDA in place, named officer profile shared before deployment, vetted CPO on scene the same day in London and most UK cities.
Speak With a Senior Protection Advisor
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About the Author
Roy
Director, VIP Protection Services
Roy is a Director of VIP Protection Services, overseeing SIA-licensed close protection, executive protection, corporate security and residential security across the UK. He personally writes and reviews every guide, checking each against current SIA licensing rules and BS 7858:2019 screening standards before publication.
- SIA Close Protection licensed officers
- BS 7858:2019 screened (5-year vetting)
- Documented assignment planning
“Discreet, impeccably presented and completely reliable. They planned the detail properly rather than simply putting people on the ground — which is exactly what we needed.”
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