Alistair.PEditor
Event and venue operators preparing for the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly called Martyn's Law, need to distinguish a sensible operational improvement from a duty that has already commenced. The Act received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025. As the Home Office's 2026 overarching factsheet explains, its substantive compliance requirements were not yet in force when that guidance was published. The 2026 commencement regulations brought section 27, about statutory guidance, into force; that alone did not switch on the wider protective-security duties. Check for subsequent commencement regulations before claiming the legal position has changed.
In her 11 September 2026 update, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) focused on determining which premises and events fall within the Act, developing template support, and preparing the notification portal. For venue teams, this calls for accurate site facts, named owners and useful staff procedures, not premature declarations of compliance. The suggestions below support preparation by UK event businesses; they cannot classify a particular property or replace current statutory guidance or competent legal advice.
Determine whether the premises or event falls in scope
Do not label every hall, restaurant, conference room or temporary event alike. The Home Office premises factsheet describes four core considerations: the legal definition of premises, their wholly or mainly specified use, reasonable expected attendance, and statutory exclusions. The Act's standard-premises threshold begins at 200 people reasonably expected to be present at the same time from time to time, while enhanced-tier treatment generally involves 800 or more, subject to specific exceptions. These are legal tests requiring the real facts of the site; they are not shorthand for a venue's advertised maximum capacity.
The separate events factsheet describes a different test, including public access, the location and whether 800 or more people may be present at one time, together with other qualifying conditions. A smaller qualifying premises might also host an event that raises separate questions. Record the facts without assuming a ticketed event automatically qualifies or that a corporate function automatically does not. The government provides worked examples in its statutory guidance collection for difficult classifications.
Handle principal use and multi-use sites individually
Hotels, shopping environments, leisure centres and conference sites may mix activities within the same physical complex. A site used for conferences at weekends and offices on weekdays cannot always be classified using the activity on a particular booking date. The government updated its guidance collection in September 2026 to include principal-use guidance. Managers should examine what each premises is wholly or mainly used for, including the treatment of separate premises within a larger site, instead of adopting a label drawn from the marketing brochure.
For each potentially relevant location, maintain the address, description of included buildings and land, types of public use and reasonable expected attendance under the appropriate official test. Note whether different parts of a property may have their own responsible persons. An internal worksheet can record the official guidance version, facts supporting a conclusion, unresolved questions and person who signed off the review. It should be revisited when the layout, use or ownership changes. If a classification is uncertain, a documented request for appropriate advice is better than unsupported certainty.
Separate venue responsibility from organiser and contractor roles
One event may involve a landlord, venue operator, external promoter, production company, caterer and security contractor. Contracts should show who supplies plans and operational details, but a commercial agreement cannot simply erase a legal responsibility set by statute. The Home Office statutory guidance addresses responsible persons and coordination. A venue manager should use it to identify the relevant legal entity rather than assuming that whoever hires the security team must also be the duty holder.
A practical responsibility matrix can still help before commencement. List who maintains site facts, reviews crowd and access assumptions, checks changes to event layout, briefs event-day staff, owns incident escalation and liaises with a competent security adviser. Identify the person who will check any future official notification obligations. Treat this as operational accountability, not as proof of an approved compliance document. When a booking arrangement appears to transfer responsibility, seek qualified advice about the legal position instead of accepting the wording at face value.
Keep commencement and notification claims accurate
Martyn's Law is enacted, but enactment and commencement are not the same event. The March 2026 commencement regulations brought the provision for statutory guidance into force on 10 April 2026. The Home Office's 2026 material separately states that substantive premises and event requirements had not commenced. A venue should therefore avoid announcing that it has fulfilled a legal duty which the regulator has not yet required it to perform. Preparing appropriate information is useful; claiming a completed statutory notification without a real submission record is misleading.
The SIA's September update described the future notification portal and support being developed for organisations with single and multiple sites. It did not provide evidence that every venue could already complete a live notification. Monitor the SIA Martyn's Law updates and official commencement notices, recording the date on which each version was checked. If an official process later opens, follow the published instructions and retain the resulting acknowledgement. Do not represent a spreadsheet of prepared addresses as if it were a notification accepted by the regulator.
Bring security information into the booking lifecycle
Operational preparation is most useful when the team knows where decisions need to be made. At enquiry stage, capture the intended use and indicative attendance without promising a definitive statutory classification. During contracting, identify who will provide site-specific planning information and which changes require escalation. As a date approaches, reconcile capacity assumptions, supplier arrangements, relevant access points and staffing plans. On event day, staff need understandable instructions and an accessible contact route. Post-event reviews can record lessons without publishing sensitive site details.
This does not mean sales teams should design counter-terrorism procedures or offer specialist assurance. Give them an escalation route to the appropriate venue, safety or security lead. Record whether client information has materially changed since the last review. A large function with a different access arrangement may warrant reconsidering earlier assumptions even if the event name is similar. The goal is to stop material information being trapped in an email thread or arriving after staff have already been briefed.
Prepare proportionate records and usable staff briefings
Start with accurate premises names, responsible contact details, a description of the public areas under review and where current guidance can be accessed. A multi-site group benefits from one consistent naming convention and a record of who reviewed each location. Documents should show their preparation date and source version. Avoid creating a generic ‘compliance certificate’ or buying expensive consultancy solely because somebody claims government approval is already compulsory. The Home Office states its intent that organisations can understand the Act without having to purchase specialist services for compliance.
Staff training should be proportionate to their actual roles. A receptionist may need to know whom to contact if a concerning report arrives; an event manager may need to organise a handover if entrances or event arrangements change. Exercise scenarios can address suspicious items, crowd movement or an unavailable exit, but operational advice should draw on appropriate official protective-security guidance, not improvised tactical suggestions in a marketing article. Keep sensitive plans secure, provide accessible instructions and record when the procedure was reviewed. A useful briefing is one a new colleague can follow under pressure.
Review changing guidance without inventing deadlines
A law with phased implementation creates a risk that an old article becomes an accidental source of outdated instructions. Establish one owner for official updates, save the published guidance date and document the changes relevant to venue operations. The Home Office statutory guidance, premises and events factsheets, and SIA September update should be checked alongside any new commencement legislation. A headline alone does not tell an operator which legal provision is now enforceable.
When reporting progress to a client or board, separate completed operational preparation, unresolved scope questions, pending guidance, and duties that are legally in force. For example, ‘site records checked against the July 2026 factsheet’ is a verifiable internal action; ‘fully Martyn's Law compliant’ is not established by that action. Clear status language also protects partners and customers from relying on an unsupported promise. A venue may choose proportionate safety improvements today without pretending those changes discharge all future requirements.
Make preparedness a continuing management responsibility
The most useful long-term outcome is a repeatable way of knowing which site and event facts matter, who owns each decision and how changes reach people on shift. It connects security planning with normal venue administration while preserving the boundary between practical advice and authoritative legal guidance. Small operators need clarity more than a complex template; larger portfolios need consistent data and review dates so one site is not overlooked when guidance changes.
Martyn's Law should be taken seriously without assuming every premises faces identical duties or that the regulator has already opened every process. Review current official documents, identify the facts of the specific venue or event, prepare proportionate records and keep staff briefings usable. When the substantive provisions commence, confirm the actual legal requirements, timescales and evidence expected for the relevant premises or event. Preparation should make that transition more orderly, not manufacture a compliance status in advance.