Martyn's Law

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, also known as Martyn’s Law, received Royal Assent on Thursday 3 April 2025.

The Government intends for there to be an implementation period of at least 24 months before the Act comes into force. This will allow the SIA’s (Security Industry Authority) new function to be established, whilst ensuring those responsible for premises and events in scope have sufficient time to understand their new obligations. This will enable them to plan and prepare appropriately.

Martyn’s Law is upcoming UK legislation designed to improve public safety by ensuring venues & organisations have robust counter-terror preparedness plans. It will require businesses, event spaces, & public institutions to assess risks, implement security measures, & provide staff training to respond effectively in an emergency.

The law introduces two tiers—Standard & Enhanced—based on venue size & capacity, with requirements ranging from basic awareness training to detailed security protocols & live response planning.

By enforcing proactive security measures, Martyn’s Law aims to ensure organisations can detect threats early, communicate effectively, & act decisively to protect the public.

That’s the over-arching view, so now let’s look at what it means for us in theatreland.

Essentially, if the event/production at your venue/premises is known not to exceed 200 individuals being present at the same time then the legislation does not affect you.

However, because of the tiered system, productions where there are known or reasonably expected to be more that 200 but less than 800 individuals on the premises there will be an obligation to inform the SIA of the event and have in place, so far as reasonably practicable, appropriate public protection procedures. This is likely to affect the larger musicals and pantomimes.

The number of individuals includes ALL persons present eg, attendees, cast, FOH, bar staff, backstage team, tech team, chaperones etc. It doesn’t matter if all these people are only all present for ten minutes you will still be obliged to comply. We don’t know yet, as HMG have not advised exactly who has to do what if you as the performing theatre hire the venue. We suspect it will fall to the venue to comply but we don’t know yet for certain.

Standard duty premises are generally those where it is reasonable to expect that between 200 and 799 individuals (including staff) may be present at the same time at least occasionally. The responsible person/organisation will be required to:

notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA) of their premises; and

have in place, so far as reasonably practicable, appropriate public protection procedures.

These public protection procedures are those which should be followed by people working at the premises if an act of terrorism were to occur at the premises, or in the immediate vicinity. They are procedures which may be expected to reduce the risk of physical harm being caused to individuals relating to evacuation, invacuation (moving people to a safe place), locking down the premises, and communicating with individuals on the premises.

The requirements for standard duty premises are centred around simple, low-cost activities with costs relating primarily to time spent. There is no requirement to put in place physical measures.

What are the requirements for enhanced duty premises and qualifying events?

Enhanced duty premises and qualifying events are premises or events where it is reasonable to expect that 800 or more individuals (including staff numbers) may be present on the premises at least occasionally or attend the event at the same time. In addition to the same requirements as standard duty premises (above), the person responsible for enhanced duty premises and qualifying events will additionally be required to:

have in place, so far as reasonably practicable, appropriate public protection measures that could be expected to reduce both (i) the vulnerability of the premises or event to an act of terrorism, and (ii) the risk of physical harm being caused to individuals if an attack was to occur there or nearby. For example, enhanced duty premises will be required, so far as is reasonably practicable, to implement measures relating to the monitoring of the premises and their immediate vicinity;

document the public protection procedures and measures in place, or proposed to be put in place, and provide this document to the SIA. This document should include an assessment of how the public protection procedures and measures reduce vulnerability and/or the risk of harm; and

Where the responsible person is not an individual, they must designate a senior individual with responsibility for ensuring that the responsible person complies with these requirements.

In conclusion – as yet, there are a lot of unknowns, there are so many scenarios other than theatreland to consider eg Church attendance, festivals, schools, colleges, football matches, Bonfire Night gatherings, community events where entrance is free (Summer Fairs, duck races, park runs to name a few). It will be interesting to see how the legislation pans out.

We will update this page as soon as we receive any further information, in the meantime, if you have any further queries please contact us and we will do our best to help. Thank you.

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