We are calling on Blue Light Card to review its eligibility criteria, including the current inclusion of teachers and education staff, and to extend eligibility to frontline security workers who protect the public every day.

Teachers, teaching assistants and education staff do an important and demanding job. This petition is not intended to attack teachers or diminish the value of education. Teachers support children and young people, carry significant responsibility and deserve respect, fair treatment and proper recognition. However, teaching is not, in the ordinary sense, a blue-light, emergency-response or frontline public-protection role. It is an essential public service, but it does not naturally sit within what many people understand Blue Light Card to have been created to recognise.

Blue Light Card has long been associated with emergency services, the NHS, social care, the armed forces and other frontline roles involving public service, operational pressure and challenging situations. If the scheme is now intended to include wider essential-worker categories, then its eligibility rules should be applied fairly and consistently. It is difficult to understand why education staff may qualify, while many frontline security workers remain excluded despite working directly in public-facing protective roles.

Security workers are often the first people called when something goes wrong. They deal with violence, aggression, theft, disorder, safeguarding concerns, vulnerable people, missing persons, medical incidents, restraint incidents, fire alarms, emergency evacuations and police-related incidents. They work in hospitals, schools, shopping centres, town centres, city centres, transport hubs, retail premises, licensed premises, local authority sites, public events and CCTV control rooms. These are not passive roles. They require judgement, de-escalation, evidence handling, incident reporting, public reassurance and, in many cases, direct liaison with police, emergency services, NHS staff, local authorities and business crime reduction partnerships.

The current position appears inconsistent. A teacher working in a school may qualify for Blue Light Card, while the security officer protecting that same school may not. A hospital employee may qualify, while the hospital security officer responding to violence, restraint incidents, missing patients, aggressive visitors or emergency situations may be excluded. A town centre CCTV operator may assist police with live incidents, monitor vulnerable people, track missing persons, preserve evidence and support public safety, yet still not qualify. A town or city centre ambassador may patrol public spaces, support vulnerable people, assist businesses, report crime and work alongside police and local authorities, yet may also be excluded.

The same concern applies to licensed security officers working in the night-time economy, retail environments, transport hubs and public events. These workers regularly face violence, intoxication, vulnerability, safeguarding risks and public disorder. Some roles require police vetting, NPPV clearance, enhanced background checks, evidence handling, incident reporting and regular operational contact with police or emergency services. If those roles are not properly regarded as frontline public-safety work, then the eligibility criteria require serious review.

We are not asking Blue Light Card to disregard teachers or other essential workers. We are asking for fairness, consistency and transparency. If Blue Light Card recognises wider essential-worker groups, including teachers and education staff, then frontline security workers should also be recognised. If the scheme is intended to reflect blue-light, emergency, protective and public-facing frontline work, then security workers plainly belong within that purpose.

We therefore ask Blue Light Card to review whether teacher and education staff eligibility properly reflects the purpose of the scheme, to explain more clearly how eligibility decisions are made, and to extend eligibility to properly defined categories of frontline security workers. This should include hospital security, school security, retail security, transport security, event security, local authority security, town and city centre ambassadors, public-space CCTV operators, licensed premises security and licensed public-facing security officers.

Security workers are often overlooked, despite protecting staff, patients, visitors, pupils, customers, businesses and members of the public. They step into difficult situations, often before police or emergency services arrive. They de-escalate incidents, protect vulnerable people, gather evidence, report crime and help keep public spaces safe.

This petition is not anti-teacher. It is not about removing recognition from people who work hard. It is about fairness, consistency and proper recognition for those who protect the public every day.

If teachers are eligible as essential workers, frontline security workers should not be excluded. Blue Light Card should recognise security workers who serve the community, face challenging situations and protect the public every day.