Martyn's Law: what the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act actually asks of you
A plain-English breakdown of the new statutory duties, the Standard and Enhanced tiers, and where most organisations are underestimating the work.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 — known as Martyn's Law — received Royal Assent in April and represents the most significant shift in UK protective security duties in a generation. For the first time, those responsible for qualifying premises and events have a statutory obligation to consider, plan for and reduce the risk of a terrorist attack on the people they invite in.
The Act creates two tiers. Standard duty premises (200–799 expected attendees) must put in place reasonably practicable public protection procedures — evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication. Enhanced duty premises and qualifying events (800+) must go further: documented procedures, public protection measures, a designated senior individual, and an evidenced security plan held ready for the regulator.
In practice, the biggest gap we see isn't awareness of the Act — it's translating the language of the legislation into something operational teams can actually execute on a Saturday night. Generic templates won't survive contact with a regulator, and they certainly won't survive a real incident.
Start with three honest questions: do we know which tier each of our sites falls into, can a duty manager describe our lockdown procedure without opening a binder, and do we have the documented evidence the SIA will ask for? If any answer is shaky, this is the year to fix it.
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