Keys held securely, and someone to answer the alarm

• Your keys are logged when we receive them, and signed for each time they are used.
• They are kept in secure storage, labelled with a code rather than your name or address.
• You tell us in writing who can authorise access to the site.
• Keys are returned to you, signed for, when the arrangement ends.

1. You, or your alarm monitoring company, call us.
2. An officer goes to the site.
3. The officer checks the outside of the building first.
4. If there are signs of a break-in, the officer calls the police and does not go in alone.
5. If it is safe, the officer goes in, checks the building and resets the alarm if you have authorised this.
6. If the building cannot be secured, the officer contacts you to agree what happens next.
7. You receive a written report of the visit.

• A list of the keys we hold, and who may authorise their use
• Who calls us, and who we call, in what order
• The alarm panel and the points to check inside
• What the officer should do if the building cannot be made secure
• How you want to be told, and when

That depends on where your site is and how the cover is set up. We do not quote a general figure. If we can cover your site, the proposal will state what we can commit to, and what we cannot.

Police response to a monitored alarm is arranged between your alarm company and the police. A key holder does not replace it. See alarm and access control systems for how that works.

Keeping custody of keys for a client, or controlling access to them, is licensable under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. We use only people with the right SIA licence for the task, and we check it before they start.