Connor, 23, from Denton, works for ABM Group Ltd and is also a CCTV specialist. When he was on duty on Tuesday 7 July, he received a radio call from security control telling him that a young man had been stabbed.

Without hesitation, Connor grabbed a first aid kit from the control room and rushed to the scene. The man who had been stabbed was lying on the floor clutching his chest. One of Connor’s colleagues had caught the man who had carried out the stabbing.

Connor starting by checking whether the victim was conscious. He appeared to be in shock from loss of blood. Connor cleaned the wound and began packing it with bandages to stem the flow.

While attending to his wounds, Connor realised that the victim was the brother of a friend. He reassured him while keeping pressure on the wound. Crown Point’s Shopping Centre Manager, Alan Barker, and his colleague, Lisa Craig, ran to the scene to help and called the emergency services. Connor continued to reassure the victim while Lisa covered him to keep him warm. Between them they stabilised his condition, and when the ambulance arrived paramedics took over. They told Connor that if he had not carried out emergency first aid the man may well have died at the scene.

Connor’s life-saving efforts were commended by his employer, ABM Ltd, who gave him their ABM Gold Hero Award. Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish also gave him a Community Award.

When we spoke to Connor, he said:

I was mentally and physically numb because I’ve never had to deal with an incident like that before. I put my training to good use, and I kept calm and didn’t think of the consequences. I did my best for the man by packing his wound and keeping him talking, and I kept him alive.

After the incident, Connor discovered that the man had survived his injuries, but he had suffered a punctured lung and damage to his heart.

The man’s family got in touch later to say thank you. His sister said that he had made a recovery and was convalescing in hospital.

When we asked Connor about the incident, he said:

Security operatives, as first responders, are taught first aid. It has come in handy a few times. In a situation like this, you just have to do what you can. Your training and instinct take over. I think the role of security operatives is changing – the role we play now is not just providing security. We also offer support, give basic first aid, and help people feel safe.

Connor’s story is part of the SIA’s #SIAHeroes campaign. He is one of 400,000 licensed security operatives in the UK who have continued to work as critical workers and keyworkers, guarding hospitals, sheltered accommodation, supporting social distancing in supermarkets, and other essential operations.

Ian Todd, the SIA Chief Executive, said:

It’s important to remember that many in the security industry are working as critical and key workers during this emergency. Connor’s story is testament to the fact that despite the challenges, many operatives and businesses are going the extra mile to serve their communities.

The SIA is promoting the industry’s dedication and commitment through the #SIAHeroes campaign. It is sharing inspiring stories of security operatives who are keeping the public safe and secure at this critical time.

Read all of our #SIAHeroes stories online h​ere​.​

Further information:

• The Security Industry Authority is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the United Kingdom, reporting to the Home Secretary under the terms of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Our main duties are: the compulsory licensing of individuals undertaking designated activities; and managing the voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme.

• For further information about the Security Industry Authority or to sign up for email updates visit www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk. The SIA is also on Facebook (Security Industry Authority) and Twitter (SIAuk).​​​​​​​​​​​

Nearly a quarter of a million people who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless have been helped to keep their home or into longer term accommodation, a report on the Homelessness Reduction Act published today (25 September 2020) has found.

The review of the Homelessness Reduction Act, which was brought into law in April 2018, has found 243,680 people have had their homelessness prevented or relieved.

The Act placed a duty on councils to try to prevent homelessness and a duty on public bodies to refer people at risk of homelessness, flagging those most vulnerable to homelessness and rough sleeping so they could receive support.

Since the introduction of the Act, 365,000 single households (almost two thirds of the total number of households), including 28,000 people with a history of rough sleeping and over 15,000 people who were rough sleeping at the time of the assessment, have been assessed as owed help to prevent or relieve their homelessness.

This means the Act is meeting its goal of helping people who previously wouldn’t have had access to support.

The review of the Act has also provided feedback on where further work is needed, including on administration, data collection and joint working.  Working with dedicated professionals, the government is determined to address these issues and meet their commitment to fully enforce the Act.

The Act is part of the government’s landmark commitment – backed by over half a billion pounds to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over 2020 to 2021 – to break the cycle of homelessness and end rough sleeping for good.

Measures also include the Next Steps Accommodation Programme, which funds local authorities and their partners to prevent people from returning to the streets, and the fast-tracking 6,000 additional homes for former rough sleepers across the country.

The government has also put in place an unprecedented package of support for renters, with an eviction ban for six months, and we have changed the law to increase notice periods to 6 months so most renters now served notice can stay in their homes over winter.

Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing Kelly Tolhurst MP said:

The action that this government is taking to support the most vulnerable people in our society has helped nearly a quarter of a million people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness to find long term accommodation.

The Homelessness Reduction Act is working well, with councils supporting the most vulnerable, meaning many more people who may not previously have been eligible for support now have the help they need.

This government is committed to ending rough sleeping for good by the end of this Parliament, and we’ve backed this up with over half a billion pounds of funding this year alone.

The government is providing £4.8 billion councils to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19 which includes their work to support homeless people. This also includes £3.7 billion which is not ringfenced and over £1.1 billion specifically to support social care providers. This is part of a package of over £28 billion which the government has committed to support local areas, with funding going to councils, businesses and communities.

Case studies

Southwark Council:

As a result of the Homelessness Reduction Act the early intervention and prevention services have improved. This has included developing more provision for single people and households with no dependants. For example, during year one of the act being enforced, Southwark developed a singles procurement pathway.

Collaborative and increased partnership working with the third sector and in-house departments has improved; Shelter and Solace Women’s Aid provide independent housing advice and advocacy from the Southwark Housing Solutions service office.

Medway Council:

In terms of outcomes, prior to the Act Medway Council was already actively pursuing a prevention and relief approach. However, the extra financial resources made available to ensure the successful implementation of the Act have enabled us to invest primarily in an increase in staff for our Housing Options Service. Extra staffing resource has enabled Medway to focus more effort on prevention/relief work to those who are homeless or at threat of homelessness at the earliest possible stage. As a consequence, Medway has significantly increased the numbers of successful preventions and reliefs.

Additional information

• The government has made clear that no one should be without a roof over their head, which is why we have committed to end rough sleeping within this Parliament. The work of the Rough Sleeping Taskforce further demonstrates our commitment to supporting the most vulnerable in society.
• We have provided £4.8 billion to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19, which includes their work to support homeless people, including £3.7 billion which is not ringfenced, and over £1.1 billion specifically to support social care providers.
• Also, we have accelerated plans – backed by £433 million over the next four years – which will deliver 6,000 additional homes for former rough sleepers across the country.
• On 18 July, we launched the Next Steps Accommodation Programme (NSAP). This makes available the financial resources needed to support local authorities and their partners to prevent these people from returning to the streets. The NSAP is made up of two sources of funding: £161 million to deliver 3,300 units of longer term move-on accommodation within the next 12 months (part of the £433 million total); and  on 17 September we announced the allocation of £92million of funding to pay for interim support to ensure that people do not return to the streets.
• We are supporting these efforts as part of our landmark commitment – backed by over half a billion pounds this year – to break the cycle of homelessness and end rough sleeping for good.
• This government implemented the Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, which placed new duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. These new duties apply irrespective of whether a person has ‘priority need’ or may be regarded as being ‘intentionally homeless’.
• See more information on the HRA Review

The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) helped to deliver a project which provides £500m to the UK film and TV productions adversely affected by COVID-19. The Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, was set up with the help of modelling and actuarial expertise provided by GAD.

TV and film industries had stopped work during lockdown. However, once that was lifted it became apparent there was incomplete insurance cover available and this meant productions found it virtually impossible to continue filming or to acquire finance.

GAD’s role

Once we were made aware of the requirements, GAD reacted quickly and helped the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to form a solution. We were part of a multi-disciplinary team which included lawyers, economists and production industry experts.

Our role was to understand the insurance gap created by the pandemic and to design a model that could quantify this. The model had to reflect the uncertainties around the impact of the virus over the period of support. The draft model underwent iterations of refinement following feedback from DCMS and as possible support options, that were acceptable to government and the industry, started to form.

Cover solutions

The successful conclusion of this 2-month long project meant that the government can fill the gap left by the lack of suitable insurance. This includes cover for coronavirus-related losses for cast member and crew illnesses, as well as filming delays or disruptions caused by the ongoing battle against the virus.

GAD’s analysis covered the risks around:

• sickness – providing cover where a production is delayed by COVID-19
• civil authority action – where filming is stopped due a government-imposed local or national lockdown
• abandonment – where a production team walks away from a TV or filming project before it is completed due to COVID-19

Scheme outline

The help is for a defined period and has been set up to support UK activity, especially small and independent producers. The funding will be available to all productions made by companies where at least half of the production budget is spent in the UK and is estimated to cover more than 70% of the film and TV production market to the end of the year.