Enhancing UCL’s security service and experience

This will include, redefining roles to have clearer duties, accountabilities and better training, and using new equipment to enable us to deliver a more efficient, tech-enabled security service.

Our priority is to deliver the best security service and experience possible, and to continue to ensure the safety of UCL’s large community of students, staff and visitors.

There will also be clearer routes and opportunities for career progression and more training to upskill staff and support their development. While there will be fewer roles in the new structure, there will be redeployment opportunities and staff will be offered a financially enhanced resignation scheme.     

Bidvest Noonan is now consulting with its UCL-based security staff on the proposed changes.  

Ian Dancy, Executive Director of Operations at UCL, said “Our security colleagues are highly valued and respected members of the UCL community, and we rely on their expertise to ensure our campus is safe and secure.

“To further enhance security at UCL, we are working alongside our providers, Bidvest Noonan, to ensure teams are more visible and agile across our large Bloomsbury campus, with better training for staff and access to new innovative technologies. This will increase the range of buildings supported by our security teams, and mean staff are patrolling a wider area, so can react more quickly to incidents no matter where they take place.  

“This supports our wider aims to improve the campus experience, and to open up UCL to engage even more closely with our local London community.  

“As part of the consultation process, we are encouraging staff and their trade union representatives to provide feedback, and help shape how these changes can be best delivered. We recognise any period of change can be unsettling, and UCL’s confidential wellbeing support services are available to all security staff."

These proposed changes will not affect UCL East campus, Stanmore campus, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Royal Free campus and Chaple Place which use alternative providers for our security provision.  

Investment in security at UCL 

In recent years, UCL has invested over £10 million per year to harmonise pay and benefits for our outsourced colleagues, and these include some of the best rates for these roles in the sector. We contribute the same percentage to their pensions as in-house staff. We are an accredited London Living Wage employer and our external providers are required to pay contracted staff at UCL at least the London Living Wage.