Considering the flack I personally have been getting, and the randomly picked half-truths being thrown around by a few formerly dis-interested parties about the National Occupational Standards for Locksmithing, I thought I might do a little rumour control.

Today’s meeting was the culmination of 2 years of meetings, the first with the actual results of the course elements written my the course providers based off the initial work and framework and skillset we had created. The aim was to ensure that the technical aspects of what the content providers had written was both sensible and as rigorous as we wanted, and so it was a pretty hard slog. We started at 10:30 and carried on through lunch until a little after 4, when we had finally given feedback on the entire framework.

I am actually really proud of what we have achieved. As I Tweeted earlier today, it took more than a day of debate and, yes, argument, to even come to an agreement of what the one sentence definition of a locksmith actually was. When you consider this, that we took only 18 months to get to the stage of a widescale public consultation is quite impressive! What was perhaps even more pleasing was that the results of the consultation were fairly positive, and the main issue was that various parties disagreed on a single point, all of which we considered and, in some cases, changed things to cover. The main other issue was that a lot of locksmiths were worried that this would be some sort of 2 day course guideline, or a way for short course trainers to somehow get seniority or recognition or the like, and we took that on board. It was something we had been keen to avoid, though – anyone who thinks a room full of locksmiths would want to help flood the market further with yet more 2 day locksmiths is, well, frankly delusional!

Anyway, today, from the signed off results of that long process, we got what will shortly be formed into an actual book, which will outline the areas, point by point, with both descriptions and learning outcomes, for everything an “intermediate” locksmith would need to know. This syllabus will form an actual year long apprenticeship! Hopefully, by next year, there will be young people being sponsored by their employers to start on the process of becoming a “proper” locksmith. We have yet to set out the number of hours required, but it will be fitted around the idea that it will take a full year, and that the person who passes it will have every right to call themselves a qualified locksmith, if only “intermediate”.

I’m not sure how much detail I can go in to at this point, but suffice to say we have ensured that even some of the most simple tests and requirements will be no walk-over. For example, one task will be to plan, generate and then assemble a Master Keyed suite of at least 5 (yes, five) locks. Trivial, you might think, but a skill that no-one teaches on any short course currently available. Likewise lock opening and fitting – yes, there will be easy options and possible ways to make life easier for the students, but they will still have a far wider range of skills than any current training course provides to the UK market. There is also studying legislation, guidance & best practise, practical examination on actual job sites, and, of course, the usual Health & Safety B.. er.. stuff, as well as knowing your way around a key machine, and being able to use it, and much, much more.

So, please, rest assured that what we have put together will in no way “flood the market” – unless anyone thinks there are training schools out there who currently train 500 people a year on week long courses, who can swap to training 500 people a year for a year!

Whether or not anything can be done about short courses remains to be seen. Having a standard is no silver bullet. However, it is a start. And there will be no short courses that can award this, nor any current training school, so they won’t be able to capitalise on the new standards. However, anyone claiming to be or have “fully qualified instructors” will be rather stuck if they don’t have instructors who hold the NOS Locksmithing exam award from an approved exam board!

Please, if you’ve read all this, thanks! And please feel free to ask anything you like below.