Martyn's Law checklist

This is the whole of the standard tier, for premises where 200 to 799 people may be present at once. Tick it off in order. Most venues finish in an afternoon plus one walk round the building.

1. Work out whether you're in scope

• Count the most people who could reasonably be present at once, including staff, volunteers, contractors and performers.Use your fire risk assessment, your licence or your busiest booking. The capacity calculator estimates from floor area.
• Write the figure down, with the date and where it came from.Under 200: you're out of scope and this is the only record you need. Review it if the building or its use changes.
• Note your tier.200 to 799 is standard tier. 800 or more is enhanced. Places of worship, schools and nurseries are standard tier whatever their size.

2. Name the responsible person

• Decide who holds the duty.The person or body in control of the premises: the trustees, the management committee, the council, the operator. Not the caretaker, not the hirer.
• Record the decision in a minute or a letter.Name the role rather than the individual where you can, so it survives a change of committee.
• Decide who will do the work day to day.The responsible person can delegate the doing, not the duty. Write down who that is.

3. Put the four public protection procedures in place

Each one is a short written procedure that a person on site could follow in the first minutes of an incident. One side of paper each is plenty. The template guide has a worked example of each.

• Evacuation: getting people out.Routes, exits, who directs, where people gather, who checks the building is clear. Usually your fire plan with the assembly point reconsidered for a threat outside.
• Invacuation: bringing people in and moving them away from danger.Which rooms are safest, how people get there, who closes doors, how long you expect to hold.
• Lockdown: keeping a threat out.Which doors lock or can be held shut, by whom, how fast, and what you do about the ones that cannot.
• Communication: telling people what's happening.Who speaks, how (PA, loud voice, phones), what they say, and how you contact the emergency services.
• Each procedure is signed off by a named person with a date.A procedure nobody has confirmed is a draft.

4. Make sure the people who run the premises know them

• List everyone who could be running the premises during an incident.Staff, volunteers, trustees on duty, regular hirers, the bar team, the caretaker.
• Get each of them to read all four procedures.On a phone is fine. Keep a record of who read what and when.
• Put the procedures in your hire agreement.Hirers run most of the big events. The agreement should say they have seen the procedures and will follow them.
• Pin the short version where people will see it.By the kitchen, behind the bar, in the office.

5. Notify the Security Industry Authority

• When the law is in force, tell the SIA who the responsible person is.Through the SIA's online portal, which is still being built. You cannot do this yet. The commencement page tracks when it opens.
• Tell them again if the responsible person changes.

6. Keep it alive

• Walk the building with the procedures once a year.Do the doors, rooms and people still match? Takes about half an hour.
• Review and re-confirm the procedures once a year, and whenever the building changes.A new extension, a new door, a new use of the car park.
• Keep the records somewhere the next committee will find them.The capacity figure, the minute naming the responsible person, the four procedures with their sign-offs, and the record of who has read them.

What the standard tier does not require

• A risk assessment sent to anyone (enhanced tier only).
• Physical security measures, equipment or building work.
• A consultant, a course or a certificate.
• A fee. Notifying the SIA is free.
• A scheduled inspection. The SIA has said its approach to the standard tier will be advice first.

If you're enhanced tier (800 or more)

Everything above, plus: a written document assessing your procedures and the protective measures in place, sent to the SIA; measures to monitor the premises and its immediate vicinity, control who and what comes in, and limit the harm an attack could do, so far as is reasonably practicable; and a designated senior individual responsible for all of it. Enhanced tier premises are usually larger commercial venues; a village hall, church or school is almost never in it.

Common questions

What does the standard tier of Martyn's Law require?

A named responsible person, a notification to the Security Industry Authority once the law is in force, and public protection procedures covering evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication, with the people who work at the premises knowing them. No physical security measures are required.

Do we need a risk assessment for the standard tier?

No. A written assessment sent to the regulator is an enhanced tier duty, for premises with 800 or more people. Standard tier premises need procedures, not an assessment.

Do we need to buy equipment or install security?

No. The standard tier is about procedures and people. The Government's position is that it should cost time rather than money.

Do our staff need a training certificate?

No certificate is required. What matters is that the people who run the premises know the procedures and could follow them. A record of who has read them is the simplest way to show that.

Does Martyn's Law apply to events?

Some one-off events are qualifying events in their own right, generally where 800 or more people attend and entry is controlled. For most venues the duties attach to the premises, and an event is covered by the premises' procedures.

Based on the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 and the Home Office statutory guidance published in April 2026. A plain-English summary, not legal advice.