Few sectors are as labour-heavy as security and facilities. Whether you provide manned guarding, mobile patrols, door supervision, event and concierge cover, or a wider soft-FM bundle that wraps in reception, cleaning and grounds, almost all of your cost is people. Officers work shifts around the clock, are paid weekly or fortnightly, and the clients they protect pay on 30, 60 or even 90-day terms. That gap between a fixed wage run and slow contract payments sits at the centre of how the sector is funded.
The payroll-before-payment squeeze
Payroll in this sector has no give in it at all. A site needs cover every hour it is contracted for, so your officers turn up to guard, patrol and respond regardless of whether a facilities manager has approved last month's invoice. Because wages are such a large share of a security company's outgoings, even a profitable, well-run firm can be short on payday purely because of timing. This is the single most common reason security and facilities firms look for short-term funding, and it is covered in more detail in our note on funding payroll between customer payments.
Mobilising a new contract
The other pinch point is winning work. Land a new guarding contract or a multi-site facilities portfolio and your costs jump straight away: you recruit officers, run SIA licence checks and BS 7858 screening, issue uniforms and radios, and often inherit staff under TUPE — all weeks before the first invoice is paid. Where a contract transfers from another provider you may be funding a full team's wages from day one with nothing yet billed. Scaling up for a contract win is exactly where cash runs thin, and we look at the mobilisation phase in how we fund a large new contract.
Vetting, kit and vehicles
Security carries real set-up costs that land ahead of revenue. Screening and vetting take time and money, uniforms and body-worn cameras have to be bought in, and mobile patrol and key-holding work needs a fleet on the road. Control-room equipment and CCTV monitoring add a further capital layer for firms moving into electronic security. A facility lets you cover that outlay without draining the cash you need for the next wage run, and our guide to equipment and plant costs for incorporated firms walks through the principle of matching the borrowing to the asset.
Where facilities work overlaps
Many guarding firms have grown into broader facilities and building services, and many FM firms run a security line. The cash pattern is much the same either way — labour out now, payment in later — so if your work leans towards maintenance, cleaning and building services, our note on funding for property maintenance and facilities-management firms covers the completion-to-payment gap and retention exposure that come with it.
Which product fits
- Credicorp Flex works well for the rolling shift cycle: draw to cover a wage run or a contract mobilisation, then repay as client payments land, and draw again next cycle
- Credicorp Slice provides a single, sized amount for a defined cost, such as a fleet of patrol vehicles or one large recruitment and vetting push
- The rate and term that apply are always the ones shown in your offer, not a figure quoted here
Use it as a bridge
Funding the gap between a fixed wage run and slower client payments is sensible cash-flow management. Leaning on a facility every cycle to pay wages you are not actually earning is a signal to tighten pricing or chase collections, and our team is happy to talk that through.
The basics
We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs only. We cannot lend to a sole trader or an individual working as a guard, and we take no personal guarantees from directors — the reasons are set out in why we lend to companies, not sole traders. This is business lending outside the FCA consumer-credit regime, so the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS protections do not apply. You can reach us through the General Support Enquiry form or the contact page before you commit.
See also: Can an accountancy practice borrow from Credicorp?, Financing materials and stock purchases, Funding a shop fit-out or refurbishment.