Your direct connection to
freelance security providers
Working with Security Guards Direct
Getting Started
Register your organisation
Register your organisation
Register your organisation with Security Guards Direct by clicking on the button below. Once your application has been approved (usually within 24 hours) you can advertise your assignments and invite bids from Security Freelancers.
Security Guards Direct is a security service bidding platform where businesses seeking to hire security services advertise their assignments and search our database to either directly invite freelancers to submit bids or wait for freelancers to voluntarily submit bids.
We base our charges on a percentage of the fees agreed between the you and the Freelancer for each assignment. As this is a bidding platform you are free to negotiate for as long as it takes for a fee to be agreed.
You don’t pay security Guards Direct until after you have accepted a bid. We issue our invoices monthly with 30-day credit terms.
Freelancers complete the assignment under a contract for services agreement which is legally binding on both parties the moment you accept a bid.
Once you have received a satisfactory service you pay the freelancer directly in accordance with their stated terms of credit.
Advertisements on our platform are free to post irrespective of frequency or volume.
Each advertisement is uploaded to our bidding platform and categorised according to the region where the assignment is to be performed alongside the SIA license required for the activity.
If you have an assignment for a Door-supervisor in the southeast, only freelancers meeting your criteria will be visible on the screen.
Freelancers will be notified about assignments that match their eligible SIA licence activities and their preferred work location.
Freelancers can bid for any assignment on the platform and clients can accept or reject an offer based on their legitimate preferences.
An assignment reminder text will be sent to the freelancer 24 hours before their assignment is scheduled to begin.
Creating and uploading Assignments
Creating and uploading Assignments
In the Add New Assignment section, select the service you need and enter the Maximum hourly payment you are prepared to offer a freelancer. (This figure cannot be seen by freelancers) follow the step-by-step instructions to Enter the Assignment start and end dates along with the shift start and finish time. When adding the end date for shifts that finish after midnight, please use the following days date otherwise your calculation will be underestimated and will cause queries to be raised.
Follow this process for each individual freelancer you need, E.G, if there are 2 freelancers required at the same site you will need to make 2 separate entries in the Add New Assignment section and repeat as required.
You can use the Copy Assignment option which will prefill the majority of the information required for the Add New Assignment.
Accepting or Rejecting a bid
Accepting or Rejecting a bid
When a freelancer makes a bid for your assignment you will receive a notification of the value of the bid and the profile of the bidder so you can learn more about them before you click the accept or Reject tab and the bidder will immediately be informed.
You will have the option to Automatically Accept Bids. When you do this any bid which meets or falls within your Maximum hourly payment will automatically be accepted and any bids that exceed it will automatically be rejected.
The successful freelancer will be notified of your decision instantly and if a bid is unsuccessful the freelancer will be notified that their offer has been rejected and they will immediately be invited to re-submit a more competitive bid and this negotiation process can continue until a fee is finally agreed.
We recommend that you post your assignment as soon as you have created it, at which time freelancers can immediately view it and make their bids.
If you want to be more proactive: Click the Invite Guards tab. This will take you to a scrollable screen where freelancers with profiles matching your Assignment Information will be on display, here you can click the invite tab next to the profile of a freelancer you feel meets with your specific requirements and your invitation will appear on their Smartphone. If you want to know more about the freelancer and their service delivery strategy before inviting them to bid just click their photograph or ask them to complete a Freelancer Service Proposal. See freelancer Service Proposal information below.
Introducing a freelancer to Security Guards Direct.
Introducing a freelancer to Security Guards Direct.
If a freelancer, you have previously worked with and want to hire is not already signed up with Security Guards Direct, there are two courses of action available to you.
Option 1. Send them a link for the SGD app by text or email and ask them so sign-up directly
Option 2. Log into your SGD account and follow the instructions in the Add New Freelancer section
By choosing option 2 the freelancer will only be able to view your organisations assignments, but you will be able to see and invite any Freelancer that has signed-up directly or otherwise to bid for your assignments.
You will need their Christian and surname, email address, mobile phone number and SIA licence number, then once their licence has been verified using the SIA database, the freelancer will be able to view and bid for any of your assignments advertised on the platform or wait for an invitation from you.
SIA License Verification can take up to 24 hours.
if you already know the freelancer has a valid SIA licence you can temporarily manually verify their licence but if for whatever reason the licence is not valid or if you have entered incorrect information the system will not allow them access.
Accessibility
Accessibility
There is no limit to the number of users from your organisation that can access the system and add new assignments at the same time. The user ID you register with will allow multiple users to log in simultaneously. Your activity on the platform is visible to all users so you will see which assignments are being posted by your colleagues in real time.
Freelancer Service Proposal
Freelancer Service Proposal
As with all tender arrangements you will need some assurance that the bidder is qualified to provide the services and our licence checker and star rating will contribute towards that. However, in order to help you understand exactly how a prospective freelancer plans to deliver the service.
With this in mind we have created a template (Freelancer Service proposal) for each category of licensable security service.
The Freelancer Service Proposal document displays a tick list of service-related options that you can select in order to confirm which elements will form part of your service delivery.
Once the Service Proposal elements have been confirmed a PDF document will be created for your records and for the client.
The templates are free to download and use as part of your bid evaluation process.
Frequently Asked Questions
We charge an agreed percentage of your total payment to the freelancer.
You will receive an invoice with a full breakdown of the bids you have accepted, the payments you have made to Freelancers and the fees due to SGD.
The SGD platform provides the means for freelancers to be compliant with self-employed status criteria, but this would ultimately depend on your specific circumstances. You should seek advice from an expert if you have any concerns.
All freelancers sign up to a legally binding contract in compliance with the British Standard and SIA code of conduct. Once you have accepted their bid, they must ensure they arrive fully equipped and with sufficient time to assess and fulfil the assignment as advertised or if they cannot attend, they must find a suitable replacement at their own cost or reimburse you for any costs you incur finding cover. Please take a few moments to rate each freelancers’ standard of service.
Provided the assignment is open to others to bid and your preferred freelancer/s make bids at agreed frequencies, e.g., weekly monthly bi-monthly and so on this is perfectly acceptable.
Under the terms of the contract entered into by you and the freelancer, it is the freelancer’s responsibility to find a substitute if he/ she cannot perform the assignment. You have the right to replace the missing freelancer and whatever reasonable costs you have incurred must be met by the original freelancer. The standard of freelancer you can expect when using SGD is improved and maintained by you providing feedback about a freelancer. The review you provide informs other advertisers and encourages freelancers to deliver high standards or lose out on bid opportunities.
As the agreement is strictly between you/ your business and the freelancer SGD will only provide evidence of facts known to us to support your claim, but any legal action must be instigated by you.
In the very unlikely event that no substitute can be found on the SGD platform, and you have made reasonable attempts to engage an alternative freelancer from our database, in those circumstances we would reimburse you for the full fee paid to SGD.
This is covered within the agreement between you and the freelancer, but it might be best to describe the type of workwear you prefer the freelancer to wear. You should take independent professional advice on this, but it might be best practice not to provide or insist on your own branded uniform as this might compromise the self-employed status of the freelancer at your premises. On the other hand, if you charge a fee to the Freelancer for the use of a uniform or any equipment that should be acceptable.
When a freelancer signs up to SGD independently, their services are available to any business posting assignments. However, if you add a freelancer known to you to SGD, that freelancer will only be able to view and bid for the assignments posted by your organisation on the SGD platform.
The claim should be forwarded directly to the freelancer in question to pass on to their insurers. Freelancers are far more likely to act with additional care compared to agency workers as avoidable compensation claims have a direct impact upon their ability to work in the sector and will increase their insurance premium costs.