Where it leaks
Cover and ad-hoc hours delivered but never billed
Short-notice cover, sickness and holiday relief and extra patrols get worked, but the hours never reach the invoice, so the finance data shows billing below the contract run-rate.
Rate uplifts that never reached the invoice
When a National Living Wage rise or an annual contract uplift lands, the charge rate on the invoice can stay at the old figure, leaving the invoiced amount below the agreed run-rate.
A per-site charge that quietly stopped
On re-mobilisation or a rota change a recurring monthly site charge can drop off the billing run while guarding carries on, showing up as a regular charge that simply ceased.
Failed Direct Debits and BACS collections left unchased
A client's Direct Debit or standing collection fails and nobody follows it up, so an invoice that was raised correctly is never actually collected.
Credit notes for SLA penalties left open or doubled
Credits raised for a missed patrol or service point can be applied twice or never reversed once the issue is resolved, quietly eroding the balance.
Short payments on disputed hours
A client trims a few contested hours and pays less than invoiced, and the small shortfall is written off in practice rather than chased.
The scale
Revenue leakage is commonly estimated at around 1% to 3% of turnover, and on a security firm turning over £20m that is roughly £200k to £600k a year, purely as an illustration. Direct Debit alone is not immune: GoCardless has observed that roughly 2.9% of Direct Debit payments fail, across about 55,000 businesses.
How it is found
LeakIQ reads your own invoicing, payment and ledger data read-only, with no change to how you bill, roster or collect, and typically surfaces where the money is slipping within days.
Take the full guide with you
If you would like to see your own figure, we can produce a free read-only estimate of where revenue is leaking in your business, with no obligation.
Common questions
Does this work if our cover hours and rotas change constantly?
Yes. LeakIQ reads the invoices, payments and ledger entries you already produce, so it compares what was actually billed against the contract run-rate no matter how often shifts and rotas move. It looks at the finance data, not your rostering system.
We bill from a workforce system, not from finance. Can you still see the gaps?
Many leaks show up in the finance data itself: invoices that fall below the contract run-rate, recurring charges that stopped and Direct Debits that failed. LeakIQ works read-only from your accounting and payment records, so it can flag these even when your roster sits in a separate system.
How long does it take and does it disrupt billing?
It is read-only and needs no change to how you invoice, roster or collect, so nothing in your live billing moves. Most firms see an initial view of where revenue is leaking within days of connecting their finance data.
Keep reading
- How LeakIQ works for Manned security
See it applied to your systems, not just the theory.
- What revenue leakage is
The plain definition, and why earned revenue slips before the bank.
- Revenue leakage in every other sector
The same field guide for facilities, waste, logistics, security and more.