Recently the Home Office announced that unlicensed Private Investigators will be deemed as criminals committing unlawful acts prohibited by the law. These new regulations for Private investigators is introduced by the Home Office to prevent individuals acting under the profession of Private Investigators, breaching privacy -accessing highly confidential documents of members of the public through unscrupulous activities. Under the new regulations for Private Investigators, individuals are prohibited from acting as Private Investigators unless the Security Industry Authority authorizes them to do so.
Home Secretary Theresa May announced the introduction of the new legislation earlier last year in July. As per existing conditions, any individual can act as a Private Investigator regardless of any prior legitimate experience, certifications or even any convictions of any nature. This arrangement during many occasions puts the privacy of individuals’ at risk. In order to protect the interests of the public and prevention of breach of privacy by these so- called “Private Investigators”, the Home Office has set strict regulations and conditions in granting license to individuals posing as investigators.
Applicants are required to meet the standards strictly established by the SIA in order to obtain a license allowing them to act as Private Investigators. The Home Secretary announced “Anyone with a criminal conviction for data protection offences can expect to have their application for a licence refused. Journalists will be excluded from regulation to allow them to carry out legitimate investigations in the public interest.” These strict new regulations for Private Investigators are aimed to protect the interests of the public and licensed Private Investigators who carry out investigations under legitimate orders. Unquestionably many unlicensed individuals posing as private investigators will be wary of the new regulations and are expected to withdraw from undertaking illegal investigations. The penalty for working as an unlicensed private investigator or supplying unlicensed investigators will be a fine of up to £5,000 and up to six months in prison as reported on the UK government website.
The new regulation is expected to be fully enforced this year as per the Home Secretary’s announcement.
Peter Taylor’s Private Detective is an agency of legitimate private investigators carrying out investigation activities successfully while abiding by the laws for over 40 years now. With a reputation preceding itself through positive experiences and feedbacks from clients Peter Taylor’s Private Detective is one of the most sought after Private Detective agencies in the UK.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-regulation-of-private-investigators-to-be-introduced