Business Alarm Monitoring Options: Keyholder, Police and Everything Between
By the DC Fire & Security engineering team — installing and maintaining fire and security systems since 2010. Updated June 2026.
Quick answer
Four tiers: self-monitoring by app (free, you are the response), ARC keyholder monitoring (£150–£400/year — professionals call your list 24/7), police response via URN (£300–£600+/year — confirmed activations dispatch police), and add-on guard/keyholding attendance (£10–£25 per callout on retainer). Most overnight-empty businesses belong at keyholder tier minimum; URN where stock or insurer demands it.
The tiers in detail
| Tier | What happens at 3am | Cost | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self/app | Your phone pings; you decide groggily | £0 | Occupied/low-stakes premises |
| ARC keyholder | Operators verify, call keyholder list in order until someone attends | £150–£400/yr | Standard overnight-empty businesses |
| Police URN | Confirmed (2-detector) activation passed to police as verified call | £300–£600+/yr + URN fee | Stock, cash, insurer conditions |
| + Guard response | Contracted keyholder/guard attends instead of your staff | Retainer + £40–£80/attendance | No willing keyholders, multi-site, lone-worker concerns |
What separates good monitoring from a phone tree
Signalling integrity first: single-path (one route to the ARC) suits keyholder tiers; dual-path (IP + 4G, each watching the other) is mandatory for URNs and right for anything serious — a cut phone line shouldn't equal silence. Then response substance: ARC operators working a current keyholder list (audit yours — leavers linger), event filtering that distinguishes confirmed sequential activations from single-detector blips, and video verification where CCTV integrates (a clip alongside the alarm transforms both police credibility and your 3am decision quality). The URN layer adds NPCC discipline: certificated installation/maintenance, confirmation technology and the false-alarm strikes system — response is earned and keepable.
Choosing — and what we'd specify
Decision shortcuts from hundreds of commercial installs: read the insurance wording first (it frequently chooses your tier); empty-overnight + any meaningful stock = keyholder ARC minimum; targeted-goods trades (tools, e-cigs, pharma, cash, metals) or prior losses = URN with dual-path; no realistic 20-minute keyholder = add professional keyholding rather than pretending. Costs stack predictably: Grade 2 monitored installs £800–£2,500 fitted plus the annual tier; maintenance contracts are bundled into monitored pricing because they're compulsory for URNs anyway. We're SSAIB-certificated with an NSI Gold partner ARC — the certificates your insurer and the police scheme both recognise.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the ARC actually do on an activation?
Can monitoring use my existing alarm?
What if my keyholders can't attend within 20 minutes?
Is video-verified monitoring worth the extra?
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