"We have provided temporary staff to a number of businesses, large and small, over the years, but demand has been so high recently that it is clear a dedicated team is required. We now have a pool of more than 1500 officers who can be managed and deployed locally at a moment's notice, anywhere in the UK" says Ed Walker, operations manager, Chubb.

Key to the new operation is a centralised 'workdesk' to manage all customer enquiries 24/7. The 'workdesk' team is responsible for all bookings and subsequent confirmations and client liaison, and allocating work to the relevant local support centres.

"The key advantage is that the customer only has one central point of contact, so if he has any queries or concerns they can be quickly dealt with and resolved. A further advantage is that although the client relationship is centrally managed, the officers who turn up on site are all from the local area, where local knowledge may prove a distinct value-add" Mr Walker continues.

According to Ed and his team, a large number of companies of all sizes are now increasingly requesting temporary security officers to provide physical presence - usually out-of-hours - whilst a premises is being redeveloped, an alarm is down, or a window broken leaving a building unprotected. His officers are also asked to safeguard valuable items in transit or temporarily housed on site. One of the more unusual assignments recently was to protect TV celebrities during Outside Broadcasts.

"Many 'temporary' services have fallen down in the past because they do not have the necessary infrastructure in place to support them. We ensure that our officers are not only supervised locally, but also have the support of a management team nationwide, and that makes us more reliable" continues Mr Walker.

"All of our officers are also fully licensed and vetted, and receive the same training as their 'permanent' colleagues," he concludes.