Insurance approved

Insurance approved alarm specifications explained

What an insurer typically expects from an alarm at a standard and a high security level, the four things they look for, and a plain-English glossary of the standards and jargon in your policy documents.

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Looking for AMCO’s own compliance answers to give your insurer? See our insurance policy specifications.

Requirements by level

What’s typically required at each security level

Your policy documents state the exact requirement, but insurers generally work to one of two levels.

Grade 2 equipment

Standard security level

A typical home or a non-high-risk business

Installer: SSAIB-certified installer, installing to BS 8243
Equipment: Grade 2 equipment
Monitoring: Monitored to BS 5979
Maintenance: A maintenance contract to BS 9263

Grade 3 equipment

High security level

Higher-risk premises, where the policy asks for more

Installer: SSAIB certification, with installation to BS 8243
Equipment: Grade 3 equipment
Monitoring: Monitored to BS 5979
Police response: Level 1 Police Response, with a Unique Reference Number (URN)

Not sure what each grade actually means? Our alarm grades guide has the full breakdown, and the British Standards page goes deeper on the technical detail.

Not sure which level your policy needs?

Send us your policy wording and we'll confirm what your alarm needs to meet it.

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What insurers look for

Four things insurers look for

1 of 4

UKAS-accredited installation

The alarm is installed by a company certified by an accredited body - NSI or SSAIB - rather than an uncertified installer.

2 of 4

Equipment installed to PD 6662

Detection circuits and external audible devices (the bell box or sounder) fitted to the standard that adopts the current European rules in the UK.

3 of 4

Modern alarm signalling

Dual-path (DP3-compliant) signalling, so the alarm can still reach the monitoring centre if one path fails.

4 of 4

Police response set up correctly

Police response arranged with confirmed-activation protocols, so a genuine activation is eligible for a police response.

Signalling

Which signalling options meet the requirement today

For the “modern dual-path” requirement, the current options AMCO fits are CSL DualCom and AMCO LiveTalk in its dual-path configuration. Both use two independent paths, typically internet plus mobile (GSM), so a single failure doesn’t cut your alarm off from the monitoring centre.

Dual-path signalling, rated to match the grade of the rest of the system
Monitored by an SSAIB-registered alarm receiving centre
Certificate of Conformity supplied with every installation

A note on BT Redcare

BT closed its Redcare signalling service on 15 December 2025, so it is no longer an option. If your alarm still has a Redcare communicator, it may no longer be reaching a monitoring centre - which could matter to your insurer.

How to switch from analogue to IP

Plain-English glossary

The jargon in your policy, explained

Short definitions of the bodies, standards and terms insurers commonly refer to.

The National Security Inspectorate - one of the two certification bodies most UK insurers recognise. Most insurers will only accept a graded system that is installed and maintained by an NSI or SSAIB-approved company.

The Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board - the other UK certification body insurers recognise. AMCO's installations and monitoring centre are SSAIB registered, and a Certificate of Conformity is supplied with every installation.

The general requirements for intruder alarm systems, published in the UK as BS EN 50131. It is the standard that defines the four alarm grades, based on the level of skill and equipment an intruder is assumed to have.

The standard for confirmed-activation systems, used for police response. It is the standard an insurer-approved installer works to when setting up an alarm that needs to qualify for police response.

A Unique Reference Number. Under a Type A police response, the URN is what identifies your alarm to the police. It is tied to your alarm receiving centre and signalling setup, so it is worth confirming it has carried across whenever your monitoring or communicator changes.

AMCO’s LiveTalk verification works on the Type B procedure, where the monitoring team confirms an offence in progress, so no URN is issued. See AMCO’s insurance specifications and our Guide to Police Monitoring.

Level 1: immediate response (subject to police priorities).

Level 2: desirable response, but dependent on police resource.

Level 3: no police response (keyholder only).

The standard an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) itself must operate to - not the alarm in your building, but the monitoring station that receives its signals. It covers things like staffing, premises resilience, power redundancy and operator procedures.

The standard for alarm signalling and transmission systems. It defines the DP fault-reporting grades for signalling equipment, and sets technical safeguards for the signalling path such as denial-of-service protection, encryption, event recording and a minimum availability.

The maintenance standard. It covers preventative maintenance (scheduled visits), corrective maintenance (fixing reported faults) and the commissioning checks completed when a system is first installed or substantially altered.

Under BS 9263, bells-only systems need one maintenance visit a year, while monitored systems need two. For Grade 2 and Grade 3 monitored systems that can be two site visits, or one site visit plus one remote check. Your insurer may specify its own requirement, so check your policy wording.

See our alarm maintenance service for how AMCO schedules these.

Grades 1 to 4 describe how resilient an alarm system is, based on how skilled and well-equipped an intruder is assumed to be. Grade 2 is the usual standard for a home or non-high-risk business; Grade 3 is used for higher-risk premises. A system’s overall grade defaults to the lowest-graded component fitted.

The full breakdown is on our alarm grades guide.

A dual-path signalling rating under BS EN 50136-1. DP ratings describe how quickly a fault on the signalling path must be reported, and higher-grade systems need signalling rated to match - a Grade 3 system needs DP3 (or better) signalling to keep its overall grade. CSL DualCom and AMCO LiveTalk (dual-path) are current DP3-capable options.

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