How to check a PSiRA training academy is real

Training is usually the biggest cost of becoming a security officer, and it is the easiest place in this industry to lose money. A certificate from a provider PSiRA has not accredited will not register you. It is not a smaller problem you can fix later, it is a full loss. The check takes about two minutes and it is free.

Do this before you pay anything

Get the academy's registered name and PSiRA accreditation number in writing. Ask by WhatsApp or email so you have it saved. An accredited provider gives you both without hesitating. Hesitation here is the answer.
Look the name up on PSiRA's accredited training provider search. It is on the Authority's digital services site at digitalservices.psira.co.za/accredited-tp. Search the registered name, not the trading name on the pamphlet. The two are often different, and a real academy will tell you which is which.
If the name does not come up, stop and ask PSiRA directly. Do not accept the academy's explanation for why it is not listed. Phone PSiRA on 086 133 3850 or email [email protected] and ask them to confirm. Get the confirmation in writing and keep it.
Check the accreditation covers the grade you are paying for. An academy can be accredited for some training and not for all of it. If you are paying for Grade B because you need it to be a director, confirm the accreditation actually covers Grade B.
Only then pay, and pay into the business account. Into the academy's own bank account, in the academy's own name, against an invoice. Not into a personal account, not in cash to somebody at the gate.

If you are already registered and you are just renewing or upgrading, the same check applies. An upgrade done at an unaccredited provider is as worthless as a first grade done there.

The warning signs

None of these is proof on its own. Two or three of them together is usually enough to walk away.

No accreditation number, or a number they will not put in writingThe single most useful question you can ask. A real academy answers it in one message.
Payment into a personal account, or only in cashA training business has a business account. This one also means you have almost nothing to take to the police afterwards.
A grade promised in a day or two, or with no attendance at allIf the offer is the certificate rather than the training, what you are being sold is a piece of paper. That paper is the thing PSiRA is looking for when it checks.
A guaranteed job at the endNobody can guarantee you a job in this industry, and an academy that does is selling the job, not the training.
Pressure to pay today for a price that disappears tomorrowAccredited providers run intakes. They do not need you to pay within the hour.
The certificate arrives but the registration never doesCovered below. It is a separate problem and it catches people who did everything else right.

Training is not registration

This is the part that costs people a second time, and it catches people who trained at a perfectly legitimate academy.

A grade certificate says you completed the training. It does not make you a registered security service provider. Registration is a separate application to PSiRA in your own name, and section 20(1)(a) of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act makes it an offence for any person to render a security service for reward unless they are personally registered. Holding Grade C and working a site without being registered is an offence whatever the certificate on your wall says.

On the 2026/27 schedule PSiRA charges R310 to register as a security service provider, plus R75 for the certificate of competency. Those are the Authority's fees and you can pay them yourself. Training fees are charged separately by the academy and are usually the larger number by a wide margin.

Some academies offer to lodge the registration for you along with the training. That is legitimate, but see it through. Ask for the receipt for PSiRA's own fee, and check afterwards that a registration in your name actually exists. An academy that collects a registration fee and never produces a registration number is running the second half of the same scam.

Why this matters more if you are starting a security company

Section 20(2) of the Act means a security business can only be registered if every director, member or partner is registered as a security service provider in their own name, and PSiRA requires each of them to hold at least Grade B.

So if a director's Grade B came from an unaccredited academy, it does not stop one person. It stops the company. The business registration fee is R9 100 on the 2026/27 schedule, and a rejected application does not simply come back to you. There is a refund process and PSiRA charges a refund administration fee of 10 percent of the amount, so even the good outcome is not a full one. Check the academy before the director trains, not after the business application is in.

If you have already paid

Report it to PSiRAOn 086 133 3850 or [email protected], with the receipts, the certificate, the address, the names and the bank details you paid into. The Authority has an inspectorate and bogus training centres are exactly what it is for.
Open a case with the policeIf money changed hands on a promise the academy could not keep, that is fraud, and you need the case number for anything that follows.
Do not submit the certificate anywaySubmitting training you already know is not accredited turns one problem into two, and the second one attaches to your name rather than the academy's.
Keep everythingThe WhatsApp messages, the proof of payment, the pamphlet, the certificate. Most of these matters fall over because nobody kept the paper.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a security training academy is PSiRA accredited?

Look the academy up on PSiRA's own accredited training provider search at digitalservices.psira.co.za/accredited-tp before you pay anything. Search by the academy's registered name rather than the trading name on the poster or the pamphlet, because the two are often different. If the name does not come up, treat the academy as unaccredited until PSiRA itself confirms otherwise on 086 133 3850 or [email protected].

What happens if I train at a provider that is not PSiRA accredited?

The certificate will not register you. Section 23 of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act requires the prescribed training, and training done at a provider PSiRA has not accredited does not meet it. You do not get a refund from PSiRA and you do not get credit for the time. The money is gone and you start the training again at an accredited provider.

Is a training certificate the same as PSiRA registration?

No, and this is the most common misunderstanding in the industry. A grade certificate proves you completed the training. Registration is a separate application in your own name to PSiRA, which costs R310 on the 2026/27 schedule plus R75 for the certificate of competency. Section 20(1)(a) makes it an offence to render a security service for reward unless you are personally registered, no matter what grades you hold.

Can an academy register me with PSiRA as part of the training fee?

Some do offer to lodge the application for you, which is legitimate, but you should still see the PSiRA registration in your own name come back. Ask for the receipt for the PSiRA fee itself and check your registration afterwards. An academy that takes a registration fee and never produces a registration number is the second half of the training scam.

What grades does a security officer need?

Grades E, D and C are the working set for a security officer. Control room operators and junior supervisors add Grade B, and senior supervisors and managers add Grade A. Every director, member or partner of a security business must hold at least Grade B before the business can be registered, which is why an unaccredited Grade B certificate stops a whole company rather than one person.

I already paid an academy that turns out not to be accredited. What now?

Report it to PSiRA with whatever you have, being the receipts, the certificate, the address and the names, on 086 133 3850 or [email protected]. If money changed hands on a promise the academy could not keep, that is also a matter for the police and, depending on how it was sold, the National Consumer Commission. Do not submit the certificate to PSiRA hoping it goes through, because submitting training you know is not accredited creates a second problem on top of the first.

Keep exploring

Registering as a security officer Guard eligibility checker What PSiRA costs Registering a security business Security guard wages

General information about South African law, not legal advice. PSiRA fees are the Authority's own and are reviewed every 1 April; figures here are the 2026/27 schedule. Accreditation changes, so the only answer that counts is the one on PSiRA's own search on the day you look. Check anything that matters to a decision against psira.co.za.