The Keyholding Company
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The Keyholding Company
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Leave alarm response to the experts and keep your staff safe.

Entrusting alarm response to fully-trained, SIA-licensed responders ensures legal compliance while protecting your staff from potential risks. With a nationwide network, an integrated booking platform and a 24/7 Control Team you can rely on, choosing us keeps your business safe, gives you control, and ensures peace of mind.

How does alarm response work?

We’re alerted

Your appointed alarm monitoring station alerts us as soon as your alarm goes off. We’ll cancel down false alarms to save you the cost of unnecessary call-outs.

On the scene fast

We dispatch the best-placed responder to attend the property and assess the situation. If needed, they’ll liaise with the emergency services for you.

We get things sorted

The officer will remain in place until the property can be secured, giving you peace of mind that the situation is under control from start to finish.

Regular updates

As soon as your job is finished you’ll receive a comprehensive report of the incident, letting you know that we’ve been and what the issue was.

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Nationwide network

Our nationwide network of 200 ACS-accredited service partners covers 99.8% of the UK’s postcodes. This reach means that we lead the industry in the speed of our response when alarm bells ring.

Our commitment

We aim to be net zero by 2025, so we offset the carbon emissions from every job we carry out. You’ll see the emissions calculation on every report, as we want to help you with your own ESG goals.

This service is worth every penny. Days off in lieu for an alarm attendance are a thing of the past and the reports help me manage it all easily.

Tom Jones, Branch Manager
How to choose an alarm response partner

FAQs

What is keyholding and alarm response?

Keyholding and alarm response is a service where a trusted security company securely stores your keys and alarm codes for your premises. This enables trained officers to respond to your premises out-of-hours should an alarm activate, or a security emergency occur. The Keyholding Company provides this service across 99.8% of UK postcodes through our ACS-accredited partner network.

How does it work?

The Keyholding Company holds keys under coded, sealed tags. When an alarm is activated, the best-placed SIA-licensed officer from our network of 200 ACS-accredited partners attends your premises, investigates, secures the site, and provides a detailed report after every visit.

How much does keyholding and alarm response cost?

Keyholding and alarm response is normally priced with an annual subscription plus a separate call-out fee, charged whenever an officer attends your property. The overall cost depends on the number of sites, their location and how often alarms are triggered. The Keyholding Company’s 24/7 Control Team filters out false alarms before dispatching an officer, so you are only charged for genuinely necessary attendances.

How quickly will someone attend when my alarm goes off?

We always aim to attend as fast as possible, but alarm response times cannot be guaranteed. Attendance depends on a variety of factors, including location, traffic, weather and responder availability. The Keyholding Company dispatches the nearest available officer from our 200 ACS-accredited partners across 99.8% of UK postcodes, keeping travel distances short and response times fast.

Should we outsource keyholding or use our own staff as keyholders?

Using a trained professional is the safer and more cost-effective option. Sending an SIA-licensed officer trained in alarm response avoids the lone-worker risks that come with sending your own staff, along with offsetting additional costs such as travel expenses and time off in lieu. The Keyholding Company’s expert officers attend on your behalf, day or night, and report back after every visit.

Is it legal to make staff respond to alarm activations?

Yes, provided alarm response is written into the employment contract, though it carries legal obligations. Call-outs count as working time, pay must meet National Minimum Wage requirements, and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 makes you responsible for staff attending alone at night. The Keyholding Company removes this lone-working risk by responding on your behalf with SIA-licensed officers.

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