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The Master Locksmiths Association (MLA)

by Steffan George, 07 August 2012

STEFFAN GEORGE DISCUSSES THE BENEFITS OF BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE MLA

 

The MLA is the leading trade association for the locksmithing industry. Established over 50 years ago as a not-for-profit organisation promoting the skill and integrity of its 1,400 members, it helps promote standards of conduct, practice and materials within the industry, and is recognised as the authoritative body by the police, government, BSI, Insurers RISCAuthority (formally IPCRes) and other such groups.

MLA licensed companies, who undergo strict vetting and regular inspections, can provide you with peace of mind regarding the security of people’s homes and businesses.

One of the key things that the MLA does is to provide promotion for members.
In terms of recent promotional work the association has been involved in then there was the BBC coverage earlier in the year with the feature on BBC North Yorkshire’s ‘Inside Out’ looking at the issue of cylinder snapping.
This followed on from the significant amount of work the MLA has been doing with West Yorkshire and it was actually the police who insisted the MLA were involved in the programme. This work with the police has now spread and we have had numerous meetings with and given presentations to forces around the UK with more planned for the future.

As well as the police, we’re also very active in promoting members to the insurance industry, in fact there was a recent presentation given to the Birmingham Insurance Institute by a security assessor from Aviva in which he promoted the MLA and Sold Secure – great to see the insurance industry backing us within their own internal presentations!

Other recent promotion has included our collaboration with the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network. Following an initial meeting with their Chairman at an event at the Association of Chief Police Officers we were invited to, further meetings were held and they are now promoting the MLA on their website.

We have also enjoyed some excellent coverage recently in Which? Whereby information from an MLA approved company was provided to their subscribers and on their website along with the recommendation that people look for MLA approved companies; yet more great promotion for members.

Throughout our campaigns to ensure high security, our key aim is to ensure vetted, inspected and qualified locksmiths are promoted to carry out domestic and commercial security work.

We feel it is the duty of the MLA, as an industry representative to make sure our Approved Companies all meet these 3 key criteria, to be able then to promote these companies with the highest level of confidence to all customers.  

The MLA’s commitment to offering only ‘professional’ accredited locksmiths, also extends to offering to educate and train locksmiths to ensure quality of service and continue to provide peace of mind to the end customer.
Due to this commitment, along with the unregulated nature of the industry and the fact that locksmithing isn’t seen as a true profession (there’s no industry SIC code – even though we all know it’s probably the 2nd oldest profession in the world!), we also felt it was our duty to look at trying to make locksmithing a “proper job” and therefore funded the development of the nationally recognised qualification and apprenticeship. Whilst final details on how this will run are yet to be finalised, there should soon be a structure in place whereby locksmiths can take on apprentices and, depending on their age, get the training for their apprenticeship funded. Keep an eye on the MLA website for more news on this.

To encourage membership, we have recently introduced a new personal membership category called ‘Associated Locksmith’, open to any locksmith who has been working full time for three years or more.  Those wishing to apply will need trade references to confirm trading time and a CRB check.

This is a great opportunity for individual locksmiths to be involved with the MLA and network with other like-minded professionals to discuss opportunities, both locally and industry wide.

They are also able to benefit from the significant benefits of MLA membership including receipt of our journal keyways, access to our member’s forum, attending regional meetings and significant financial benefits such as discounted insurance, discounted credit card processing rates, savings of over £6k of vans etc.

We hope that this category will provide not only the opportunity for locksmiths to find out the facts (rather than the myths!) about the MLA, but also act as a stepping stone for them to progress to become an MLA Approved Company and thereby benefit from use of the logo, promotion on the MLA’s website (which has just been re-launched following a significant investment) and in the Association’s Handbook (which is issued to Police, Insurers etc.)

So if you’re interested in joining a true professional trade association, promoting the level of skill and ethics in the industry and helping to promote members whilst also ensuring that the public, government and industry receive the correct service and advice on security matters, get in touch.  

For further information please contact us on...

email: enquiries@locksmiths.co.uk

Tel: 01327 262255 or

visit our new website at www.locksmiths.co.uk.

Author: Steffan George

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