THOUSANDS of security guards could find themselves out of work later this month amid claims the Government's new licensing scheme is in chaos.

Companies fear they will be unable to meet work commitments as 50,000 security guards nationwide, and at least 8,000 in the North-East, are expected to be unlicensed by the deadline of March 20.

Some firms even claim they could go out of business altogether, and fear it could have a knock-on effect on businesses that require security, and cause concern to insurance companies.

But while security firms claimed the new scheme, which demands each guard has a personal three-year licence costing £190, was "chaos", the regulatory body said the problem had been self-inflicted.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) said guards and employers had been given 14 months to apply for licences, but had left it to the last minute.

It said, despite repeated warnings, only 17,000 of the total 120,000 had applied by October last year - leading to a glut of requests in recent weeks and a backlog.

Barry Hayes, who co-owns Select Security on Teesside, said he believed only eight of his 45 security staff would be licensed by March 20.

"I will have to cancel work, and if I don't have my own licence granted by then, I won't be able to run the company," he said.

"We applied weeks ago, but are still waiting.

"The problem has been a lot of security guards are on the minimum wage and simply can't afford the £190 for a licence, so put it off."

Steve Bakewell, who works at a security firm on Teesside, said his company had expanded three-fold in the past year, so many of his 60 staff had only recently completed their training and been able to apply for a licence.

But he said he was told in October last year that it would take only six weeks to issue the licences, yet he had applied in November and January, and was still waiting.

"I believe there is going to be well in excess of 8,000 guards in the North-East unable to work past March 20," he said.

"The whole thing is mayhem."

Joan Anderson, North-East organiser for the GMB union, said the SIA had always stipulated it could turn applications around in six weeks, and if it failed to do so, the union would demand answers.

She said: "When they licensed door supervisors, they realised that everybody could not get their badges in time, so they extended the deadline.

"We want them to do that this time. They are playing with people's livelihoods.

"Employees and employers should have been working together on this. Some employers have sent in block requests and have paid for their staff, on the understanding that if they leave the company within a year they have to pay a percentage back."

SIA spokesman Robert Buxton said the deadline would not be put back.

"In January, we doubled our capacity for processing applications, but we can only go so fast.

"But, even as at March 1, we had only received 74,000 applications. We expect that by March 20, there will be about 70,000 people able to work.

"We estimate that by June we will have been able to deal with the rest."