PSiRA Rates 2026 to 2027 – Grade A/B/C/D Security Rates per Hour
What are the rates of PSiRA security services right now? For the period 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, a Grade A security officer earns a minimum of R8,184 per month in Areas 1 and 2 and R7,142 in Area 3, which works out to R39.35 and R34.34 per hour. Grade B earns R7,607 (R36.57 per hour) in Areas 1 and 2, and R6,726 (R32.34 per hour) in Area 3. Grades C, D and E all share one rate: R7,003 (R33.67 per hour) in Areas 1 and 2, and R6,726 (R32.34 per hour) in Area 3.
One thing worth clearing up before we go further. These wages are not actually set by PSiRA, even though almost everyone calls them “PSiRA rates”. They come from the National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector. I will explain what that means for you below, along with the full four year table, how the hourly figure is calculated, and what you earn on top of the basic wage.
Pay Rates 2026 – 2027
Here are the current minimum monthly wages and their hourly equivalents.
Areas 1 and 2 (Urban)
| Grade | Monthly Minimum | Hourly Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Grade A | R8,184 | R39.35 |
| Grade B | R7,607 | R36.57 |
| Grade C | R7,003 | R33.67 |
| Grade D | R7,003 | R33.67 |
| Grade E | R7,003 | R33.67 |
Area 3 (Rural)
| Grade | Monthly Minimum | Hourly Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Grade A | R7,142 | R34.34 |
| Grade B | R6,726 | R32.34 |
| Grade C | R6,726 | R32.34 |
| Grade D | R6,726 | R32.34 |
| Grade E | R6,726 | R32.34 |
Notice that Grades C, D and E are paid the same. This surprises a lot of people, but it is how the schedule is written. Your grade still matters enormously for what jobs you can apply for, because most sites specify a minimum grade, and armed posts generally require Grade C or above. It just does not move your basic wage until you reach Grade B.
In Area 3, Grade B and Grade C are also on the same rate, so the only step up in rural areas is to Grade A.
Who Actually Sets These Rates?
This is where most guides get it wrong, so it is worth being precise.
PSiRA is the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, set up under the Private Security Industry Regulation Act 56 of 2001. Its job is registration, training standards, background checks, and making sure security businesses operate legally. PSiRA does not negotiate your salary.
The NBCPSS, the National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector, is the body that negotiates minimum wages, allowances and conditions between the unions and the employer organisations. The result is the Main Collective Agreement, which is then gazetted by the Minister of Employment and Labour and extended to every employer in the sector, including companies that were not party to the negotiations. Before the Bargaining Council existed, the sector ran on Sectoral Determination 6 under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
So when you search for “PSiRA rates”, what you are really looking for is the wage schedule to the NBCPSS Main Collective Agreement. The name has just stuck because PSiRA is the body everyone in the industry deals with directly.
Areas 1 and 2
The salary structure splits South Africa into area groups based on magisterial districts, not on city size. This matters, because the official list includes plenty of places that are not major metros.
Areas 1 and 2 cover the magisterial districts of Alberton, Bellville, Benoni, Boksburg, Bloemfontein, Brakpan, Camperdown, Chatsworth, Durban, East London, Germiston, Goodwood, Inanda, Johannesburg, Kempton Park, Kimberley, Klerksdorp, Krugersdorp, Kuilsrivier, Mitchell’s Plain, Nigel, Oberholzer, Paarl, Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, Randburg, Randfontein, Roodepoort, Sasolburg, Simon’s Town, Somerset West, Springs, Stellenbosch, Strand, The Cape, Uitenhage, Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging, Westonaria, Wonderboom and Wynberg.
If your site falls in one of those districts, you are on the higher rate, even if the town itself is small.
Area 3
Area 3 is simply everything else. All other magisterial districts fall here, and the rates are lower across every grade.
The gap is meaningful. A Grade A officer in Area 1 or 2 earns R1,042 more per month than the same officer in Area 3. For Grade C, the gap is R277.
Keep in Mind: Do verify your PSiRA grade and registration status before applying for any job. An expired registration can cost you the position even if your grades are in order.
How the Hourly Rate is Worked Out
The hourly figures in every table above are derived, not separately negotiated. You take the monthly salary and divide it by 208, which is the average monthly hours for a standard shift pattern of four twelve hour shifts a week.
R8,184 divided by 208 gives you R39.35. That is the whole calculation.
The official schedule flags these hourly figures as an equivalent and specifically says they are not to be used as a shortcut for salary calculation. They are useful for comparing grades, checking a casual rate, or sanity checking a payslip. They are not a substitute for working out overtime, Sunday pay, leave pay and provident fund contributions properly, all of which have their own rules.
It is also worth knowing where these rates sit against the national floor. The National Minimum Wage rose to R30.23 per ordinary hour from 1 March 2026. Every grade in the private security schedule sits above that, including the lowest rate in Area 3 at R32.34. So if a security company is paying you the National Minimum Wage and calling it compliant, it is not.
What You Earn on Top of the Basic Wage
The monthly figure is the basic. The Main Collective Agreement layers several things on top, and this is where a lot of underpayment quietly happens.
- Sunday work is priced at 1.5 times the ordinary rate.
- Overtime beyond your ordinary hours is 1.5 times the ordinary rate.
- Public holidays carry a premium, with a portion already built into the basic salary.
- Night shift allowance is R8 per night shift worked for 2026-27, up from R7 the previous year.
- Annual bonus is equal to one month’s salary.
- Provident fund contributions are now 7.5% of fund salary, up from 5% at the start of the agreement.
- Hospital cover is R172.50 per month.
- Cleaning allowance is R32 per month, and uniforms are provided at R3,000 per person per year.
- Long service bonus of R500 accrues over 60 months.
Leave provisions cover 21 consecutive days of annual leave with three extra days after two years, plus sick leave of 24 shifts over a three year cycle, six days of study leave, and five days of family responsibility leave a year.
Note that deducting uniform costs from your wages is not permitted. If you see it on your payslip, query it.
Have Security Guards Salaries Increased?
Yes, and the increases are locked in through a four year agreement running from March 2023 to February 2027. Here is the full picture.
Areas 1 and 2
| Period | Grade A | Grade B | Grades C, D, E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 – Feb 2024 | R6,907 (R33.21/hr) | R6,330 (R30.43/hr) | R5,726 (R27.53/hr) |
| Mar 2024 – Feb 2025 | R7,277 (R34.99/hr) | R6,700 (R32.21/hr) | R6,096 (R29.31/hr) |
| Mar 2025 – Feb 2026 | R7,695 (R37.00/hr) | R7,118 (R34.22/hr) | R6,514 (R31.32/hr) |
| Mar 2026 – Feb 2027 | R8,184 (R39.35/hr) | R7,607 (R36.57/hr) | R7,003 (R33.67/hr) |
Area 3
| Period | Grade A | Grade B | Grades C, D, E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 – Feb 2024 | R5,915 (R28.44/hr) | R5,499 (R26.44/hr) | R5,499 (R26.44/hr) |
| Mar 2024 – Feb 2025 | R6,271 (R30.15/hr) | R5,855 (R28.15/hr) | R5,855 (R28.15/hr) |
| Mar 2025 – Feb 2026 | R6,672 (R32.08/hr) | R6,256 (R30.08/hr) | R6,256 (R30.08/hr) |
| Mar 2026 – Feb 2027 | R7,142 (R34.34/hr) | R6,726 (R32.34/hr) | R6,726 (R32.34/hr) |
Over the four years, a Grade A officer in Areas 1 and 2 moved from R6,907 to R8,184, an increase of 18.5%. The lower grades did slightly better in percentage terms, with Grades C, D and E rising 22.3% from R5,726 to R7,003. In Area 3, the same lower grades went from R5,499 to R6,726, a 22.3% rise.
The most recent step, from March 2026, was worth roughly 6.4% to 7.5% depending on your grade and area.
One important caveat. This agreement expires on 28 February 2027. Rates for March 2027 onwards will depend on a fresh round of negotiations between the unions and employer bodies, and those figures do not exist yet. Be cautious of any site publishing 2027-28 numbers today.
What Does a Client Pay Per Guard?
If you are on the buying side rather than the earning side, the wage is only part of the picture. The Bargaining Council publishes an illustrative total cost per officer, which includes the primary officer, the relief officer, all premiums, statutory contributions, uniforms, training levy and a share of overheads.
For 2026-27, before profit and VAT:
| Grade | Areas 1 and 2 | Area 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade A | R30,004.67 | R26,357.92 |
| Grade B | R27,985.31 | R24,902.02 |
| Grades C, D, E | R25,871.45 | R24,902.02 |
That is the cost of covering a site with a twelve hour shift every day or night of the month. If a security company quotes you dramatically below these numbers, someone is being underpaid or the company is not making its statutory contributions. The Bargaining Council has been explicit that predatory pricing is one of the problems the agreement exists to address.
PSiRA’s Own Rates: Registration and Annual Fees
Because “PSiRA rates” is an ambiguous phrase, it is worth separating out the fees that PSiRA genuinely does set.
PSiRA charges registration and annual fees, reviewed each year with effect from April. For individual security officers there is an application fee plus an annual fee that must be kept current for your registration to stay active. For security businesses, the annual fee scales with the number of officers employed, running from the smallest category of under six officers up to large businesses with more than 5,000 officers.
There is also a per officer levy that employers factor into pricing, budgeted at an average of R5.00 per officer per month in the current guide.
Fee schedules change annually, so check the administration fees page on psira.co.za for the figure that applies to your category before you budget.
What is the Grade C rate for PSiRA?
PSiRA classifies security officers from Grade E up to Grade A, with each grade corresponding to a specific level of training and responsibility. Grade E is the entry level, covering basic security principles and patrolling. Grade D adds access control at entry and exit points. Grade C covers protection of information, higher risk access control, emergency handling and supervision of lower grades. Grade B introduces supervision and control with documentation and computer skills. Grade A covers management and PSiRA regulations, and suits senior supervisory or managerial roles.
For the current period, the hourly equivalent for a Grade C security officer is R33.67 in Areas 1 and 2 and R32.34 in Area 3, based on monthly minimums of R7,003 and R6,726.
Two things people often get confused about. First, the older figure of R26.44 that still circulates online was the Area 3 rate back in 2023-24 and is now well out of date. Second, Grade C sits on the same basic wage as Grades D and E, so the reason to complete Grade C is access to better posts and armed work rather than an immediate bump in basic pay.
If You Are Being Paid Less Than This
These are legal minimums, not guidelines, and they apply to every employer in the sector whether or not that employer signed the agreement.
If your payslip does not match, start by checking your area classification and your grade, then work out your hourly equivalent by dividing the monthly minimum by 208 and comparing it against what you are actually paid. Check that hours beyond your ordinary weekly hours are being paid as overtime, and confirm your provident fund deductions are actually reaching the fund.
From there you can lodge a complaint with the NBCPSS, which employs designated compliance agents, or refer a dispute to the CCMA or the Department of Employment and Labour. The Bargaining Council has also warned about people impersonating its agents and asking employers to pay them directly, so deal only with official NBCPSS channels.
Conclusion
PSiRA is the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, the body that registers and regulates security service providers in South Africa. The wages everyone calls “PSiRA rates” are actually set by the National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector through its Main Collective Agreement, gazetted by the Minister of Employment and Labour.
For 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, the minimums run from R7,003 a month for Grades C, D and E in Areas 1 and 2 up to R8,184 for Grade A, with Area 3 sitting lower across the board. What you actually take home depends on your grade, your magisterial district, your shift pattern, and the premiums and allowances layered on top of the basic. Verify your grade and registration status on the PSiRA portal, and check your area classification against the official district list before you accept a rate.