Access control

Biometric door locks and entry systems for UK businesses

A biometric door lock opens a door using part of the person rather than something they carry. A finger, a face or a palm is presented at a reader, the system checks it against the people allowed through that door at that time, and releases the lock. Nobody carries a key, nothing gets lent to a friend, and every opening is recorded.

One thing worth saying before you read any further. Computime supplies biometric door entry as part of our workforce management system, not as standalone hardware. If you want a biometric lock fitted to one door and nothing else, an access control installer is a better call than us and we will say so on the phone. What we are good at is the case where the badge that opens the door is also the clocking, feeding the same timesheet, the same payroll export and the same fire roll call.

If that is the job, read on. Commercial access control systems covers the wider picture, including cards, fobs and barriers.

A biometric door is three things, not one

Most quotes go wrong because people price the reader and forget the other two. Each door needs all three.

ONE

The reader on the wall

This is the part people picture. It reads the finger, face or palm and sends the result on. It does not decide anything by itself and it does not hold the door.

TWO

The control panel

Usually mounted out of sight, wired to the readers. It holds the permissions, decides whether to let this person through this door at this moment, keeps working if the network drops, and writes the record. Panels come as one, two or four door units, so a four door building is one panel rather than four systems.

THREE

The lock itself

A magnetic lock or an electric strike, plus the exit button and the break glass unit that lets people out by hand. This is the part that decides what happens in a power cut, and it is a decision taken per door rather than once for the building.

Finger, face, palm or card

The right one depends on the building and the hands of the people using it, not on which is newest. We have fitted all of these and the wrong choice is obvious within a fortnight.

Method Suits Struggles with
Fingerprint Offices, stock rooms, server rooms. Cheapest biometric option and the most familiar. Wet, dusty or cut hands. Gloves. Trades where fingerprints wear flat.
Face Factories, food production, anywhere hands are gloved or full. Nothing is touched. Strong backlight, and face coverings where the job requires them.
Palm Sites where faces are covered and fingers are not usable. Also contactless. Needs a deliberate presentation, so it is slower through a busy door at shift change.
Card or fob Visitors, contractors, high traffic doors, and anywhere biometrics would be unwelcome. Being lent, shared or left in a coat pocket at home.

You do not have to pick one for the whole building. A common layout is face at the main entrance where everyone arrives at once, fingerprint on the internal doors, and cards for visitors and contractors. Our Bioface reader accepts face, palm, fingerprint and card on the same unit, and there is an external version for gates and yard doors. For fingerprint only there is an IP65 rated reader with a stainless front.

Are biometric door locks secure?

More secure than keys, for reasons that have little to do with the biometric part.

What they genuinely fix

  • A credential cannot be lent, copied at a key cutter or left in a drawer.
  • A leaver is switched off from a desk in seconds. No lock changes, no walking the building, no key you hope came back.
  • You know who went where and when, which matters more after an incident than before one.
  • Access can stop at six o’clock, or on a Sunday, without anyone remembering to do it.

What they do not fix

  • Someone holding the door open for the person behind them. No reader on the market solves this.
  • A weak door or frame. A good reader on a door that can be shouldered open is a good reader on a weak door.
  • A window left on the latch, which is still how most break-ins happen.
  • The fire exit at the back that nobody badges through.

The honest summary is that biometrics remove the credential problem completely and leave the building problem exactly where it was. If the door and frame are sound, it is a real improvement. If they are not, fix those first and the reader second.

What it costs

£600 to £1,200 per door

Excluding VAT, quoted per site after a survey.

The spread comes from the reader you choose, whether the door already has a suitable lock, and how far the cable has to run. A fingerprint reader on a door that already has power nearby sits at the bottom of that range. An external face reader on a gate with a long cable run and a new mag lock sits at the top.

On top of the doors sits the software, from £2 per employee per month excluding VAT with Syncro Connect. Access control is available on both our products, so it works the same way whether you are on Syncro Connect or Realtime.

We do not publish a single price for a door because any figure would be wrong for most buildings. A survey gives you a real one.

Biometric data and UK GDPR

Biometric data used to identify someone is special category data under UK GDPR. That does not make it off limits, and thousands of UK businesses use it, but it does mean more to do than with a card.

  • You need an appropriate lawful basis, and consent is a weak one in an employment setting because staff cannot freely refuse their employer.
  • Staff need clear information about what is held, why, and for how long.
  • A data protection impact assessment is usually expected before you switch it on.
  • Offering a card as an alternative for anyone who objects is good practice and costs almost nothing.

The ICO’s guidance on special category data sets out what is expected, and it is worth half an hour of someone’s time before you commit.

If that reads like more than you want to take on, cards and fobs do the same job on the door and carry none of it. We would rather tell you that now than after installation. Our data security page covers where the records are held and who can see them.

Fire, power and getting out

This is the part that matters most and gets asked about least.

Break glass units are standard

Every controlled door gets one. Anybody can release the door by hand without a credential, without the panel and without a working network.

Fail safe or fail secure, decided per door

Doors on escape routes are specified to fail safe, so a power cut releases them and people get out. Doors protecting something valuable are usually specified to fail secure, so they stay locked. Your fire risk assessment drives which is which, not us.

Alarm interface is a choice, not a default

Doors can release automatically when the fire alarm sounds, but only where your alarm panel is interfaced to the door hardware. That is agreed at survey. Nobody should assume it happens on its own. The government guidance on workplace fire safety sets out where the duty sits.

Who is outside

Because the system knows who came in and has not left, it can produce the assembly point list and show how many people were last recorded in each zone. With fire roll call that list is on the marshals’ phones, and several marshals can work the same list at once. It will not know about anyone who left through a side gate without using a reader.

When we are not the right supplier

Said plainly, so nobody wastes an afternoon:

  • You want one biometric lock and nothing else. We supply access control as part of the workforce system, so a dedicated access control installer will serve you better and cost you less.
  • It is for a house. We work with businesses. A domestic smart lock is a different product with different standards behind it, and your insurer will have views.
  • You need turnstiles, speed gates and a security desk integration. We do fit barriers, but a specialist security integrator may be the better fit on a large or high risk site.

Where we are a good fit is a UK business that wants the door and the attendance to be one system, supported by people in Leeds who answer the phone.

Talk it through before you price it

Tell us which doors and who needs through them, and we will tell you what it takes and roughly what it costs. If biometrics are the wrong answer for your building we will say that too.

Ask for a survey
Call 0113 350 9043

Biometric door entry FAQs

The questions we get asked before a survey. If yours is not here, call the Leeds team on 0113 350 9043.

What is a biometric door lock?
A door that opens using part of the person rather than something they carry. A reader checks a fingerprint, face or palm against the people allowed through that door at that time, then releases the lock. Strictly the lock is a separate part: the reader identifies, a control panel decides, and a magnetic lock or electric strike holds the door. People say “biometric lock” for all three together.
Are biometric door locks secure?
For a business, yes, mainly because they remove the credential problem. Nothing can be lent, copied at a key cutter or left in a coat, and a leaver is switched off in seconds. What they do not fix is someone holding the door open for the person behind them, a weak frame, or a window on the latch. If the door itself is sound they are a real improvement. If it is not, fix the door first.
How much does a biometric door lock cost in the UK?
Between £600 and £1,200 per door excluding VAT, quoted per site after a survey. The spread is the reader you choose, whether the door already has a suitable lock, and the cable run. On top of that sits the software from £2 per employee per month excluding VAT. We do not publish a single figure because it would be wrong for most buildings.
Can I buy just the biometric lock without the software?
Not from us. We supply access control as part of the Computime workforce system, because the point of it here is that the badge opening the door is also the clocking. If you want hardware on its own, a dedicated access control installer will serve you better and cost you less, and we will tell you that on the phone rather than quote you for something that is not a fit.
Can staff refuse to give their fingerprint?
They can object, and it is worth planning for rather than being surprised by it. Consent is a weak lawful basis in an employment setting precisely because staff cannot freely refuse their employer, so most organisations rely on another basis and offer a card to anyone who objects. That costs almost nothing and removes the argument. The ICO’s guidance on special category data is the place to start.
Is my fingerprint stored as an image?
No. The reader measures a set of points and stores a mathematical template, not a picture of the finger, and the template cannot be turned back into a usable print. That is worth telling staff plainly at the point you introduce it, because the assumption that there is a photograph of their fingerprint somewhere is the single most common objection. It is still personal data and still special category data under UK GDPR.
What happens in a power cut or a fire?
Break glass units are fitted as standard on controlled doors, so anybody can release a door by hand with no credential, no panel and no network. Beyond that it is decided per door: escape routes are specified to fail safe so they release on power loss, and doors protecting something valuable are usually fail secure so they stay locked. Battery backup covers short interruptions. Automatic release on the fire alarm is possible, but only where your alarm panel is interfaced to the door hardware, which is agreed at survey rather than assumed.
Will fingerprint readers work with dirty or wet hands?
Often not, and this is the most common reason a biometric install disappoints. Wet hands, dust, cuts, gloves and trades where fingerprints wear flat all cause failed reads, and a door that takes three attempts at shift change becomes a door people prop open. On those sites use face or palm, which are contactless, or cards. We would rather raise it at survey than fit the wrong reader.
Can a photograph fool a face reader?
Modern readers check for a live face rather than a flat image, so a photograph held up to the lens is not a realistic attack on a commercial door. The weaker point is almost always behind the reader: a door held open, a credential shared before anyone enrolled, or an exit button reachable through a letterbox. Worth asking any supplier what their reader does about liveness, and being wary of one who cannot answer.
Can the same reader clock people in and open the door?
Yes, and it is the reason most people come to us for access control rather than to a security installer. One badge at the main entrance opens the door and starts the shift, feeding the same timesheet, payroll export and fire roll call. A door people pass four times a day is not automatically the right clocking point, so most sites end up with entry doors that clock and internal doors that only control access.
How are visitors and contractors handled?
Cards rather than biometrics, almost always, because nobody wants to enrol a courier. They get their own access level limited to the areas and hours they need, and contractor credentials can be set to expire so nobody is still carrying working access months after the job finished. Signed in through visitor management they also appear on the same on-site list as staff.
Can I start with one door and add more later?
Yes, and most people do. The usual route is the main entrance first, then whichever internal door caused the last awkward conversation, then the rest as budget allows. Panels come as one, two or four door units, so it is worth saying at survey where you might go next: a four door panel fitted now is cheaper than two panels fitted a year apart.

See all FAQs

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