Martyn’s Law for venues and hospitality
No carve-out, a real threshold, and the tier question that decides how much work you have.
The ordinary test applies to you
Unlike education, hospitality and venues have nothing keeping them in the standard tier.
Premises come into scope where a Schedule 1 use applies and it is reasonable to expect 200 or more individuals at the same time, from time to time. From 200 to 799 that is standard tier. At 800 or more it is enhanced, with a materially larger set of obligations.
Section 3 adds qualifying events: ticketed or membership-controlled, with 800 or more expected at some point during the event. A hotel that is standard tier day to day can host a qualifying event in its function suite.
None of this is in force. The SIA expects commencement in spring 2027.
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 in hospitality terms
Evacuation
You have a fire evacuation procedure. Does it work for an incident that is not a fire, and do staff know where to send guests?
Invacuation
Holding guests inside during an incident in the street. Rarely written down, and the one most likely to be needed in a town centre.
Lockdown
Securing doors and preventing entry. In a hotel with several entrances this is a practical problem before it is a policy one.
Communication
Telling a dispersed team — kitchen, housekeeping, front of house, security, night staff — what is happening. Usually the weakest.
Turnover, not equipment
Every operator we speak to has the same underlying difficulty, and it is not the one the market sells to.
Procedures in hospitality decay because the people change. A hotel that trains its team thoroughly in March has a materially different team by August. Agency cover, seasonal staff and a night team that rarely overlaps with the day team mean the procedure has to be available rather than remembered, and onboarding has to take minutes rather than hours.
That is a genuine argument for systems that work without training — a door that locks from a phone, an intercom that routes to whoever is on shift, a visitor list that exists whether or not somebody remembered the book. It is not an argument for buying everything.
For hospitality reasons rather than legal ones
Night cover
One duty manager, several entrances, and a way to see and secure them from a phone.
Lone workers
Housekeeping on an empty floor, a night porter, a duty manager doing a final walk round.
Back of house
Where most unrecorded access happens, and where deliveries arrive at six in the morning.
Function rooms
Which are exactly where a qualifying event would happen.
Multi-property
A group office that can see across every property on one login.
Verified alarms
Out of hours, a response based on footage rather than a guess.
Front of house and back of house are different security problems
A guest must never feel watched. A cellar, a plant room and a staff entrance must never be unwatched. The design is what keeps those two facts from fighting.
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.
- Section 2 — qualifying premises and the two tiers
- Section 3 — qualifying events
- Section 5 — public protection procedures
- Section 6 — public protection measures (enhanced tier)
- Section 7 — documenting compliance (enhanced tier)
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: statutory guidance (Home Office)
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: overarching factsheet (Home Office)
- Understanding Martyn's Law and the SIA's role as regulator
Start with a survey, not a quotation.
We walk the site, look at what you already have, and tell you what would genuinely help — including where the answer is that you do not need anything.
Book a free site survey Call 01727 822 833Tell us about the site
Send us a few details and an engineer — not a call centre — will come back to you within one working day.
This is not a monitoring centre
If you are dealing with an incident now, call 999. This line is monitored during office hours.