A key safe is a small combination box on an outside wall that lets a carer, a guest or a plumber in when you can’t open the door. Here’s what “police preferred” and Sold Secure actually certify, which models the certifiers list, and what insurers have said when a key safe was involved.
Key takeaways
- “Police approved” isn’t an official term. The police scheme is Secured by Design’s Police Preferred Specification, and Secured by Design doesn’t test anything itself: it relies on independent certifiers such as the LPCB and Sold Secure.
- Check the rating on the certifier’s own list, not the box. In October 2026 the LPCB listed the Supra C500 Pro at A1 (SR1), although some sellers describe it as A5.
- Certified key safes are certified as fitted: on brick, block, concrete or stone, with the maker’s fixings. Fitted to anything else, the rating no longer applies.
- We found no UK insurer list of “approved” key safes. The risk is in the wording: many home and holiday-home policies only pay for theft after forcible entry, and a key from a key safe leaves no damage.
- Change the code whenever someone stops needing it, scramble the buttons after closing, and tell your insurer the key safe is there.
In This Article
Key safes at a glance
| What it is | A small lockable box fixed to an outside wall, holding a door key and opened with a code.1 |
| Who uses them | Care workers, family and emergency services; insurers’ repair contractors; holiday-let and B&B guests; property managers. |
| Police scheme | Secured by Design (SBD) Police Preferred Specification, owned by the UK Police Service.2 |
| Main test standards | LPS 1175 Issue 8 (LPCB, part of BRE Global) and Sold Secure’s key safe grades (Silver, Gold).34 |
| Lowest LPCB rating | A1 (SR1): tool set A, one minute of delay.5 |
| Fitting | Certified only when fixed to masonry with the supplied fixings, per the certifiers’ listings.6 |
| Insurance | No published insurer or ABI list of accepted models found. Policy theft wording matters more than the model. |
What is a key safe, and who uses one?
Think of it as a spare key under the mat that answers back. Kirklees Council’s description is as good as any: a small lockable box fixed to an outdoor wall, so that “care workers, family or emergency services can get into your home if you can’t get to the door”.1 You choose the code; anyone who knows it can take the key.
Care at home
Carers and councils
Kirklees Council, for one, points residents to police-preferred models and to Age UK’s handyperson service for fitting, and charities such as Age NI sell them.17
Guests
Holiday lets and B&Bs
Self check-in for short lets. One ombudsman case involved a B&B with a key safe outside every guest room, which mattered when the insurer looked at a claim.8
We haven’t found a published NHS standard for key safes. In practice the advice reaches people through councils, care providers and charities, and it nearly always comes down to the same two words: police preferred.
Police approved key safes: what “Police Preferred” really means
Search for a police approved key safe and you’ll find hundreds of listings using the phrase. The official term is narrower. Secured by Design (SBD) is “the official police security initiative that is owned by the UK Police Service”, set up in 1989, and its website is run by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives Limited.2 Products that meet its Police Preferred Specification can carry the SBD logo, and West Yorkshire Police, for one, tell people to look for that logo on a key safe.1
Here’s the part most listings leave out: “SBD does not undertake any testing itself.”10 To earn the logo, a product has to be tested to a recognised security standard and certified by an independent, UKAS-accredited certification body, or tested and certified by an approved body such as Sold Secure. Certification isn’t a one-off test: it brings regular re-tests and inspections of the factory, so the key safe you buy matches the one that passed.1110
“It should be noted that SBD does not undertake any testing itself.”
Secured by Design, Security standards explained
So “police preferred” tells you two things: a third party has tested the key safe, and the maker is an SBD member. To find out how hard the test was, you have to look at the certificate behind it. For key safes that means one of two schemes.
LPS 1175: the LPCB rating behind most police-preferred key safes
LPS 1175 is a Loss Prevention Standard published by BRE Global and certified by its Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB). It covers doors, shutters, enclosures and, in a section of its own, key safes.3 Issue 8, published in 2019, replaced the old single “security rating” with a two-part grade.12
- A letter, A to H, for the tool set used in the attack test. Set A is described as a “low technology level of attack using small, very easily concealed tools”; each letter after it adds bigger and more powerful tools.5
- A number, 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20, for the minimum delay in minutes.5
- An old-style equivalent in brackets, such as SR1, on many listings. A1 is listed as SR1.13
For a key safe, the LPCB says the rating covers two kinds of attack: forcing the box to get the key out, and pulling the whole box off the wall. It also gives advice I wish every listing repeated: the key safe’s rating should be at least equal to that of the door its key opens, especially when the box is outside.3 A strong front door with its key in a weak box is only as strong as the box.
Check the listing, not the box
Age NI’s shop page and many retailers describe the Supra C500 Pro and P500 Pro as certified to LPS 1175 Issue 8 A5.7 When we checked on 27 October 2026, the LPCB’s own RedBook listing and Secured by Design’s product listing both gave A1 (SR1) for both models, and A1 (SR1) for the ark Tamo range too, which is sold as the maker’s top model.136 Certificates are reissued and products change, so a higher rating may once have applied. Either way, the certifier’s current listing is the one that counts.
Sold Secure key safe grades
Sold Secure is the other route to the SBD logo. It was set up in 1992 by Northumbria and Essex Police with Home Office backing, and it’s now run by the Master Locksmiths Association from test laboratories in Rugby.14 Its specifications are written with police, insurers and industry bodies, and products are attacked by hand with a set tool list for a set time.1514
- Bronze: a basic tool list, aimed at the opportunist.
- Silver: an enhanced tool list, for more determined attacks.
- Gold: a dedicated tool list, for dedicated attacks.
- Diamond: specialist tools, including the sort of destructive attack an angle grinder makes. Not every product type has every grade.14
For key safes, Sold Secure offers Silver and Gold under its specification for externally mounted key safes, SS315.416 The list is short. In October 2026 it held three key safes: two Loxal models at Gold and a Master Lock model at Silver.4
Certified key safes, as the certifiers list them
This table is built only from the certifiers’ own listings, checked on 27 October 2026.13174 It isn’t a ranking, and we haven’t handled or tested any of these key safes; how we research modern safes explains why. Ratings measure different things on different schemes, so don’t compare an LPCB grade with a Sold Secure grade as if they were one scale.
| Key safe | Certificate holder | Rating as listed | SBD listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supra C500 Pro | Carrier Fire & Security B.V.; sold by The Key Safe Company | LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 (SR1), 1062i/01; masonry walls only136 | Yes |
| Supra P500 Pro | Carrier Fire & Security B.V.; sold by The Key Safe Company | LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 (SR1), 1062j/0113 | Yes |
| ark Tamo, Tamo Pro | Supra UK Ltd (The Key Safe Company) | LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 (SR1), 1004f/01 and 1004g/01; brick, concrete or stone, render up to 20 mm136 | Yes |
| Tamo Core, Wolflok, Wolflok Pro | Supra UK Ltd (The Key Safe Company) | LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 (SR1), 1004e, 1004h and 1004i13 | Not in the SBD category we checked |
| Defender Pro-TEC | Solon Security Ltd | LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 (SR1), 1680c/01; brickwork or blockwork1318 | Yes |
| Loxal Face Fix Pro | Loxal Security Ltd | Sold Secure key safes Gold (SS315), certificate 2335416 | Yes |
| Loxal / IDACS Letterbox Key Safe | Loxal Security Ltd | Sold Secure key safes Gold (SS315), certificate 1470416 | Yes |
| Master Lock Select Access 5426 EURD | Master Lock Europe | Sold Secure key safes Silver; SBD’s listing cites Sold Secure SS314 Bronze (security cabinets)419 | Yes |
| Keynetics SentriGuard (commercial, electronic) | Keynetics Ltd | LPS 1175 Issue 8 C1 and C320 | Yes |
| Burton Keyguard Digital XL | Burton Security Ltd | LPS 1175 Issue 8 A5, 1000m/01: suspended from 19 May 202621 | Not in the SBD category we checked |
Two things stand out. First, every mechanical key safe with a live LPCB listing that we checked sits at the entry grade, A1. Second, certificates can lapse: the LPCB suspended the Burton Keyguard Digital XL’s certificate from 19 May 2026, and its notice gives no reason.21 Sellers’ pages don’t always catch up, which is one more reason to check the listing on the day you buy. We didn’t come across a published key safe recall.
Key safes and home insurance: what policies say
People often ask which key safes insurers accept. We couldn’t find a UK insurer, or the Association of British Insurers, that publishes a list of approved models. What we did find is that the model matters less than the theft wording in your policy.
Many home policies only cover theft involving violent or forcible entry. The Financial Ombudsman Service looked at exactly this in 2015. A family member who knew the code took the key from Mrs L’s key safe, let himself in and stole her valuables; he was convicted of burglary. Her insurer still declined the claim, because her cover was for theft “caused by violent and forcible entry”, and the ombudsman agreed: “The turning of a key could be described as the use of force, but it isn’t violent.”22 It’s a hard read, but it’s the clearest published example of the risk.
- Keys “left” for a thief. In a 2015 motor case, keys kept in a key safe attached to a car counted as keys left “in or on” the car, and the theft claim failed.23 We haven’t found an equivalent home case, but the logic of “keys left” clauses is worth checking.
- Reasonable precautions. In 2025 the ombudsman found for a business whose insurer said a door key had been left in a gutter; the firm showed it had been in a key safe hidden away from the door, and the claim had to be reconsidered.24 Used properly, a key safe can be the precaution, not the problem.
- Empty homes during repairs. One policyholder said his contents insurer wouldn’t cover him while unsupervised work went on in his empty flat with a key safe in use.25 If a builder or loss adjuster suggests one, ask your own insurer first.
The practical answer: tell your insurer the key safe is there, ask whether theft without forced entry is covered, and get the answer in writing. Our guide to replacement keys for old safes covers the similar clauses insurers apply to safe keys.
Holiday lets, B&Bs and short lets
For hosts, the wording gets stricter. One UK household endorsement library, used for policies that cover a holiday home, excludes theft “unless there is physical evidence of a violent and forcible entry or exit”, excludes valuables, and removes the usual cover for replacing locks and keys while the home is used by guests.26 Put that next to a self check-in key safe and the gap is obvious: a guest, or anyone a guest passed the code to, walks in without leaving a mark.
The way a key safe is used can also tell an insurer how the business is really run. In a 2026 decision, a B&B’s insurer avoided its policy after finding the premises weren’t staffed overnight, as the owner had declared they were. The assessor photographed an intercom at the front door and a key safe outside every room, and the ombudsman noted the insurer “thought it was relevant that key safes had been provided for all of the rooms”.8 If guests let themselves in, say so when you buy the policy.
Fitting a key safe: brick, render and fixings
A certified key safe is certified as fitted, and the certifiers’ listings spell out the wall. The Supra C500 Pro and P500 Pro are “certified when mounted directly onto masonry walls” following the maker’s installation instructions; the ark Tamo models cover brickwork, concrete and stone, with render up to 20 mm thick; Solon’s Defender lists brickwork or blockwork.618 Kirklees Council puts it plainly: follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly, on a solid surface such as brick or concrete, with the approved fittings.1
- Brick, block, concrete, stone: what the certificates assume. Use the fixings supplied with the key safe.
- Rendered walls: only within the render thickness the listing allows; thick render, insulation or cladding put the fixings in the wrong material.
- Timber, uPVC, fences and gateposts: outside every listing we read, so outside the certification.
- Where: somewhere the carer or guest can reach easily but passers-by can’t see; Master Lock advises a discreet location.27 We’d also avoid the spot right beside the door it opens.
If you’re over 60 or disabled, Age UK’s handyperson service may fit one for you, according to Kirklees Council.1 A professional fit is worth having anyway: it’s cheap compared with a claim argument about whether the box was fixed as the certificate requires.
Codes: changing them and sharing them with carers
A key safe is only as private as its code, and codes travel. Care rotas change, family members drift in and out, a plumber comes once. Age NI’s key safe page points out that the code can be changed “as often as you want”, by you or the healthcare provider.7 The ombudsman’s case files show what happens when nobody does the basics: an insurer’s agents leaving “a key safe combination unscrambled”, and contractors who “left the key safe open (with the house keys in it)”.2829
- 1 Change the code when a care package ends or changes agency, after any contractor or guest, and whenever someone who knows it falls out of the picture.
- 2 Scramble after closing. On push-button models, clear the buttons so the last code isn’t left set.
- 3 Share it privately. Give it by phone or in person, or let the care provider hold it on its secure records. Never write the code together with the address.
- 4 Keep a list of who has the code and when you last changed it. It helps if you ever have to explain things to an insurer.
- 5 Forgotten code? Contact the maker or a qualified locksmith with proof that the property is yours. We won’t cover ways round a key safe here.
Remember Mrs L: the code went to someone she trusted, and her policy didn’t cover what followed.22 Give the code to the fewest people who need it.
How we got here: from letter locks to key safes
A key safe is two very old ideas bolted together: a key, and a lock with no key at all. Locks opened by letters rather than a key were around in the seventeenth century; A. C. Hobbs’s 1853 treatise on locks illustrates one, a padlock with lettered rings that opens only when the right word is spelt out.30 The dial combination lock for doors and safes was being patented in the United States by 1843.31 Our history of lock mechanisms in safes follows both lines.
The problem a key safe solves is just as old: where does the key live when its keeper isn’t there? Banks learned the hard way. In April 1959 the cash safe of the Clydesdale Bank’s Shettleston Road branch in Glasgow was found open and empty with no sign of force; false keys had been made from the bank’s own keys, which were often left hanging in the safe’s keyholes.32 The modern key safe puts the key behind a small combination lock instead, a cousin of the old safe combination locks on many antique safes. The Key Safe Company says it has been in the trade since 1996.6
Myths about key safes
“Police approved” means the police tested it.
Secured by Design does no testing; independent certifiers such as the LPCB and Sold Secure do.
The rating on the box is the rating.
The certifier’s current listing is the rating. Ours found sellers quoting grades the listings didn’t show.
A certified key safe is certified wherever you fix it.
Only on the masonry and with the fixings named in its listing.
A police-preferred key safe keeps you covered.
If your policy needs forcible entry, a theft using the key may not be covered at all.
Frequently asked questions
Do the police recommend key safes?
Police forces recommend key safes that meet Secured by Design’s Police Preferred Specification, shown by the SBD logo. West Yorkshire Police, for example, tell residents to look for it.
What are the police approved key safes in the UK?
The current list is on Secured by Design’s product search, under “Key Safes, Safes & Secure Enclosures”. In October 2026 it included the Supra C500 Pro and P500 Pro, ark Tamo and Tamo Pro, Defender Pro-Tec, Loxal’s Face Fix Pro and Letterbox key safes and Master Lock’s Select Access 5426 EURD.
Does having a key safe invalidate house insurance?
Not automatically, but it can leave a gap. If your theft cover needs forcible entry, a theft using the key from the key safe may not be covered. Tell your insurer it’s there and ask.
Can a key safe be broken into?
Any lock can be beaten given enough time and tools; ratings measure how long a key safe holds out against a set tool kit. The entry LPCB grade, A1, is one minute against the smallest tool set, which is why siting and code care matter as much as the box.
Which is better, LPS 1175 or Sold Secure?
They’re different tests on different scales, and both can lead to Police Preferred status. Compare a key safe’s grade with the rating of the door its key opens, as the LPCB advises.
Can I fit a key safe to a rendered wall?
Only within the limit in its listing; the ark Tamo models, for example, allow render up to 20 mm thick over masonry. Otherwise the certification doesn’t apply.
Sources:
- Kirklees Council, “Key safes”: for care workers, family or emergency services; fit to brickwork or concrete with the approved fittings; West Yorkshire Police recommend key safes with the Secured by Design logo. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, “About SBD” (the official police security initiative owned by the UK Police Service, created in 1989); site operated by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives Limited. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- LPCB RedBook Live, BRE Global, “Key safes” section introduction (shown on each key safe listing, for example Supra C500 Pro): what the rating covers and the advice that a key safe’s rating should be at least equal to the doors its keys open. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Sold Secure, “Outdoor key safes” category and product pages for Loxal Face Fix Pro Key Safe (Gold), IDACS Letterbox Key Safe (graded Gold) and Master Lock Select Access 5426 EURD (Silver). Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- LPCB (BRE Global), “LPS 1175: Issue 8, Security ratings (tool set + delay)”, infographic, September 2024. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, member page: The Key Safe Company (Worcester; member since 2018): Supra C500 Pro and P500 Pro “certified when mounted directly onto masonry walls”, LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 SR1; ark Tamo and Tamo Pro for “brickwork, concrete and stone. renders up to 20mm thick”, LPS 1175 Issue 8 A1 SR1. Company statements on the same page. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Age NI, “Keysafes” (product page for Supra C500 Pro, P500 Pro and ark Tamo; describes the C500 Pro and P500 Pro as LPS 1175 Issue 8 A5; codes “can be easily changed by you or the healthcare provider”). Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-6277392 (U K Insurance Limited, 2026): bed and breakfast policy avoided after the insurer found the premises unstaffed overnight; a key safe outside every room noted as relevant; complaint not upheld. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN3812938 (Ageas): the insurer offered to fit a key safe so repairs could go ahead without the policyholder present; the ombudsman thought this “a reasonable proposal”. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, “Security standards explained”: “SBD does not undertake any testing itself”; Sold Secure grades explained. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, “Police Preferred Specification explained”: products must be tested to a relevant standard and certified by a UKAS-accredited third-party body, with re-tests and factory inspections. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- LPCB RedBook Live, “Security protection products” category introduction: LPS 1175 Issue 8 and its matrix classification, “Since Issue 8’s publication in 2019”. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- LPCB RedBook Live, BRE Global, search “key safe” (17 results) and product listings for Supra C500 Pro, 1062i/01, Supra P500 Pro, 1062j/01, Tamo, 1004f/01, Tamo Pro, 1004g/01, Wolflok and Wolflok Pro (1004h/01, 1004i/01), Tamo Core (1004e/01) and Defender Pro-TEC, 1680c/01, all security rating A1 (SR1). Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Sold Secure, “About us”: founded 1992 by Northumbria and Essex Police with Home Office backing, now run by the Master Locksmiths Association from laboratories in Rugby; Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond grades defined by tool list. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Sold Secure, “Why do we test?”: test specifications written with police, insurers and industry bodies. Accessed 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, member page: Loxal Security Limited: Face Fix Pro and Letterbox key safes certified to “Sold Secure SS315 – Gold Specification for Externally Mounted Key Safes” (certificates 2335 and 1470). Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, product category search, category “Key Safes, Safes & Secure Enclosures” (23 member listings), with member pages for The Key Safe Company, Solon Security, Loxal Security, Keynetics and Master Lock. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, member page: Solon Security Ltd (Flint): Defender Pro-Tec key safe, “substrate brickwork/blockwork”, LPCB certificate 1680c/01. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, member page: Master Lock: Select Access 5426EURD listed as certified to Sold Secure SS314 Bronze (security cabinets), certificate SFME/0517/1508. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Secured by Design, member page: Keynetics Limited (Malvern): SentriGuard key safe, LPS 1175 Issue 8 C1 and C3; Sentrikey Lockbox, LPS 1175 Issue 8 A10, B3 (SR2) and C1. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- LPCB RedBook Live, Keyguard Digital XL, Burton Security Limited, 1000m/01, A5, marked SUSPENDED; and “Suspensions”: “Certificate number 1000m/01 (Keyguard Digital XL) was suspended with effect from 19/05/2026.” No reason published. Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN3508353 (UK General Insurance (Ireland) Ltd, 2015): theft by a family member who took a key from a key safe; cover required violent and forcible entry; complaint not upheld. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN7101298 (UK Insurance Limited, 2015): car stolen, insurer relied on the “keys left in or on your car” exclusion where the keys had been in a key safe attached to the car; complaint not upheld. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-5566851 (Accelerant Insurance, 2025): commercial claim declined over where a door key was kept; the business said it was in a key safe hidden away from the door; complaint upheld. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-4592016 (Covea Insurance, 2024): the loss adjuster suggested a key safe for contractors; the policyholder said his contents insurer would not cover him while unsupervised works took place with a key safe in use. ↩︎
- Pen Underwriting, Applied Household Endorsement Library v14.0 (29 March 2023), endorsements AP196 and AP197 “Holiday Home Exclusions”. ↩︎
- Master Lock Europe, product description on the Sold Secure listing for Select Access 5426 EURD: “For added security, consider installing Select Access® in a discrete location” (maker’s wording). ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN-3673646 (Aviva): complaint points included the insurer’s agents “leaving a key safe combination unscrambled”. ↩︎
- Financial Ombudsman Service, decision DRN3587073 (UK Insurance Limited): contractors “accepted and apologised for having left the key safe open (with the house keys in it)”. ↩︎
- Charles Tomlinson (ed.), Rudimentary Treatise on the Construction of Locks, from the papers of A. C. Hobbs (1853), chapter on letter locks, via Project Gutenberg. ↩︎
- US Patent 3,312, “Combination safety-lock for doors”, 20 October 1843, via Google Patents. ↩︎
- safeman.org.uk, “Safe scrapbook”: sections on key security and the Shettleston bank robbery of April 1959. ↩︎
