A multisensor camera mounted on a building exterior

Does Martyn’s Law require CCTV?

No. We sell cameras, and the answer is still no. Here is what the Act actually says, and where cameras help anyway for reasons that have nothing to do with it.

Book a free site survey Is it in force yet?

The answer

The standard tier asks for procedures, not equipment

If you take one thing from this site, take this.

Section 5 — the standard-tier duty — asks for appropriate public protection procedures: evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication, so far as is reasonably practicable. The Home Office statutory guidance is explicit that there is no requirement to put physical measures in place, and its own material says those in scope can comply without buying specialist services and that the Government does not endorse any third-party products.

So a primary school, a secondary school, a sixth-form college, a restaurant expecting 300 covers — none of them will be required by this Act to install a camera.

Cameras and access control appear only at the enhanced tier, at 800 or more, where section 6 adds public protection measures. Even there the Act asks what is appropriate and reasonably practicable, not what a supplier has in stock.

Checked against source on 25 September 2026

Martyn’s Law is not yet in force. This page reflects the position on 25 September 2026 and is reviewed by 24 December 2026. It is general information, not legal advice — see our status page for what has and has not commenced.

Why you are being told otherwise

Three sales tactics to watch for

We found all three live on UK suppliers’ websites while researching this page.

“The Act is now in force”

It is not. Royal Assent was April 2025; the duties have not commenced and the SIA expects spring 2027.

“Your school could be enhanced tier”

It could not. Schedule 1 places education premises in the standard tier regardless of numbers.

“You need this to comply”

Nothing is required to comply, and no product delivers compliance. The duty sits with the responsible person.

What an honest supplier says

That the legislation is a prompt to review your procedures, that most of the work costs nothing, and that if you want to spend money there are better reasons to do it than this one.

So when does technology help?

The honest case for spending money

There is one, and it is not Martyn’s Law.

Communication is the weak procedure

Of the four, communication is the one most sites genuinely cannot do — telling everyone something specific, at once, including the sports hall and a trip. Worth solving on its own merits.

Lockdown needs doors

A lockdown procedure that depends on a caretaker running round with keys is a procedure in name only. Access control makes it a decision instead.

Knowing who is on site

Visitor management answers a safeguarding question, a fire roll-call question and part of a Martyn's Law procedure at once.

Evidence

If you have practised something, a record of it is worth more than a policy document. Systems produce that as a by-product.

What we would do first

In order, and most of it is free

1
Confirm you are in scope at all
The threshold is 200 or more expected from time to time, staff included. A small setting may be out of scope entirely.
2
Confirm your tier
Almost certainly standard. If you are an education setting it is standard, whatever your numbers.
3
Read the four procedures against what you already have
Most organisations have evacuation, have written lockdown, have not practised invacuation and cannot do communication.
4
Fix the free things
Wording, roles, who calls 999, where the assembly point is when the usual one is the problem. None of this costs anything.
5
Practise, and write down that you did
The most valuable hour you will spend before commencement.
6
Only then look at equipment
And when you do, buy it for the incidents you actually have.

Where a camera does earn its place

Not because of the Act — because of what already happens on your site

Having said all of the above, we install these systems for a living and it would be odd to pretend they are useless. Here is the honest version of where they help, with the Act left out of it.

A camera covering a car park after dark — The car park, the bin store and the back gate. This is where out-of-hours damage actually happens, and where nobody is being watched at work.

A visitor signing in at a reception desk — The front desk. Visitor management answers a safeguarding question, a fire roll-call question and part of the communication procedure at the same time.

A hand pressing a door release beside a glazed door — The doors. Being able to secure or release them under instruction is what turns a written lockdown procedure into something a person can perform.

This is not legal advice

Everything on this page is general information about the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, taken from legislation.gov.uk and published Home Office, SIA and Department for Education guidance. It is not legal advice and not a substitute for professional security or emergency-planning advice about your own premises. No product or installation can make an organisation compliant with the Act.

Sources

Everything on this page is taken from these. Checked 25 September 2026.

A survey that might conclude you need nothing.

We would rather tell you that than sell you cameras you do not need and lose you as a customer in three years.

Book a free site survey Call 01727 822 833