PAS 24 Explained: What 'Security Tested' Really Means

PAS 24 is the UK's benchmark security test for windows and doors. A certified product has survived a standardised burglary attempt in a laboratory — manipulation, cutting, prying with real tools, sustained mechanical loading on the locking points, and impact tests — as a complete assembly of frame, sash, glass and hardware. It is the difference between "has good locks" and "has been attacked by professionals and held".

What the test actually involves

Test engineers work through the weaknesses a burglar would: loading the corners of the sash to spread it off its keeps, attacking the hinge side, attempting to cut or manipulate hardware through drilled openings, and timed hand-tool attacks on the leaf and glazing retention. The security glazing must stay in its frame; the locking must stay engaged. Crucially it is the whole configuration that certifies — a tested door with substituted glass or a different keep is no longer the tested door.

When the rules require it

Approved Document Q makes security-tested doors and accessible windows mandatory for new dwellings in England — PAS 24 is the cited route to compliance. Replacements in existing homes are not legally bound by Q, but insurers, secured-by-design housing schemes and common sense all push the same way, and the cost difference for tested hardware is modest at order time. Comparable European RC2 certification covers similar ground with a different methodology; our entrance doors are tested to PAS 24 with RC2-equivalent builds available.

What it looks like in a real spec

• Doors: multi-point automatic locking, security cylinders with snap and drill protection, hinge bolts, laminated or toughened security glazing.
• Windows: espagnolette multi-point locking, mushroom cams into steel keeps, key-locking handles, internal glazing beads — standard across our window range.
• Big glazed doors: sliders and bi-folds certify too, with intermediate shoot bolts and anti-lift details doing the work.

Beyond the certificate

Installation matters as much as the product: a tested door in a poorly fixed frame gives its advantage back. Packers at locking points, correct fixings into sound substrate and proper keep engagement are part of the job, which is why fitting through approved installers matters. Layered extras — security shutters, lighting, smart monitoring of lock state — build on the tested base rather than replacing it.

Specifying it

Say "PAS 24 throughout" in your enquiry and the specification follows — tested configurations, compliant glazing and the paperwork building control expects on new builds. Send your schedule through the quote form and the quotation will state the security build explicitly.