Martyn’s Law for schools
Your school is standard tier whatever its size. That is on the face of the Act, not a matter of opinion — and it changes what you actually have to do.
A 1,400-pupil secondary is not enhanced tier
If you have been told your school may need physical security measures, a documented vulnerability assessment and a senior individual designated to the SIA, you have been told something the Act does not say.
Schedule 1 paragraph 14 deals with primary and secondary education. Where the relevant Schedule 1 use applies, the premises are standard duty premises “regardless of how they would otherwise be treated”. Paragraph 15 does the same for further education and paragraph 13 for childcare and early years, including maintained nursery schools.
The Home Office statutory guidance confirms it: premises used for childcare or primary, secondary or further education will be in scope of the standard tier even where 800 or more individuals are expected. The Department for Education says the same and adds that enhanced duty requirements will not apply to those settings.
Two qualifications, stated plainly. The protection attaches to the relevant Schedule 1 use, so it is not a blanket exemption for every use a site is put to — a commercial concert in your sports hall is a different question. And the 200-person threshold still applies, so a setting that would never expect 200 people at once is out of scope entirely.
Higher education has no such carve-out. Universities are tiered on the ordinary test.
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.
Four procedures, so far as is reasonably practicable
A premises comes into scope where a Schedule 1 use applies and 200 or more people may reasonably be expected at the same time. Below 200 there is no duty at all. From 200 to 799 the premises is standard tier, which asks for procedures. At 800 or more it is enhanced tier, which adds measures, a document and a designated senior individual. Childcare, early years, primary, secondary and further-education premises are standard tier regardless of their numbers, because Schedule 1 of the Act puts them there. Higher education has no such carve-out.
The four procedures, honestly assessed
Most schools already have three of these. It is the fourth that is missing.
Evacuation
You have this. It is your fire procedure. Check it works for something that is not a fire and that staff know the alternative assembly point.
Invacuation
Getting everyone inside and to a safer part of the building. Written down in fewer schools than you would think, and practised in fewer still.
Lockdown
Usually written, rarely rehearsed. Check it distinguishes a full lockdown from securing one block.
Communication
Telling ninety staff something specific in under two minutes, including the ones in the sports hall, the field and a minibus in the next county. This is the one that is genuinely hard.
The questions schools actually ask
Our roll is under 200. Does the summer fair put us in scope?
Does a big event push a school into the enhanced tier?
We are a multi-academy trust. Who is responsible?
Are sixth-form colleges standard tier?
What about universities?
A sensible order of work
There is no legal requirement to comply until commencement, which the SIA expects in spring 2027. That is enough time to do this properly and cheaply.
- 1
Confirm scope and the responsible person
Whether you expect 200 or more at once, and who is responsible — Schedule 1 points at the governing body, or the proprietor where there is none, and at the local authority for a pupil referral unit. For a trust, take advice.
- 2
Review the four procedures against what you have
Honestly. The gap is nearly always invacuation and communication.
- 3
Decide how you would tell everyone
This determines whether the other three work on the day. Consider what reaches the sports hall, the field, a mobile classroom and an off-site trip.
- 4
Make sure staff can act
ProtectUK is clear that written procedures are not enough if staff lack the awareness or the tools. Free ACT e-learning from ProtectUK is a sensible baseline and costs nothing.
- 5
Practise, and keep the record
A drill you can evidence is the most useful thing you will produce during the implementation window.
- 6
Be ready to notify, but do not try yet
When section 9 commences there will be a three-month window for premises already operating.
Where equipment earns its place in a school
Not because of the Act — because of the Tuesday.
The gate
An intercom answered wherever the office staff are, so the decision to admit somebody is made on sight.
The doors
Lockdown as a decision from a phone rather than a caretaker with a bunch of keys.
The toilets
Vape sensors where a camera must never go, alerting the pastoral team by name.
The front desk
Visitor management that produces a live list at the assembly point.
The boundary
Cameras pointed at the approaches rather than at the corridors, which is where most schools have them.
The record
Every door event, alert and drill logged, so the answer to ‘what happened’ is not a recollection.
The standard-tier duty is about what people do. Equipment is how you make it doable
Section 5 asks for procedures — evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication — and the Home Office has said in terms that those in scope can comply without buying specialist services. Everything below is therefore sold on the Tuesday, not on the Act.
- Lockdown is a procedure you have to be able to perform. A written plan that depends on one caretaker with a bunch of keys is a plan that fails on the day it is needed. Doors that hold from a phone make the written procedure honest.
- Communication means reaching the right people. Verkada alerts named recipients. It has no mass-notification or public-address product, so if you need site-wide voice we will tell you that is a separate system.
- Invacuation needs the doors to work both ways. Free egress from the inside on every door, designed against the fire strategy. We will not fit anything that traps people.
- Evidence is what a governing body asks for. Every trigger, drill and door event logged, so ‘what happened’ has an answer rather than a recollection.
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.
- Schedule 1 paragraph 13 — childcare and early years
- Schedule 1 paragraph 14 — primary and secondary education
- Section 5 — public protection procedures
- Section 9 — notification requirements
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: statutory guidance (Home Office)
- How Martyn's Law will affect education settings (Department for Education)
- ProtectUK — Martyn's Law
- Understanding Martyn's Law and the SIA's role as regulator
- Keeping children safe in education (DfE)
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