The Home Office has published its all-important statutory guidance for the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025. In plainer English, that’s the detail behind Martyn’s Law, whereby premises that come under the law must meet a ‘legal minimum standard for preparedness’ to be compliant.
The document, freely available online, weighs in at 127 pages. It goes over which premises and events will come ‘in scope’ of the Act, whereby they must take steps to counter the threat of terrorism. Also covered is the legal concept of ‘a responsible person with the responsibility for ensuring the requirements of the Act are met’. The longest chapter covers ‘additional requirements for enhanced tier premises and qualifying events’. To recap, the Act has two tiers: premises with a capacity of 200 to 799 come under ‘standard’, those with 800 and more are ‘enhanced’ and will have to do more to comply. The guidance includes hypothetical case studies to explain, for example, whether a premises comes into the standard or enhanced tiers.
For the guidance document visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-terrorism-protection-of-premises-act-2025.
Among many other things, those responsible for qualifying premises or qualifying events must notify the regulator the Security Industry Authority (SIA) when they become responsible and when they cease to be responsible. While the Home Office document does touch on the SIA’s powers, the SIA meanwhile has (as was said yesterday at the Aucso conference of university security managers in Exeter) brought out its own, draft, guidance about how it will go about its work. The SIA’s document is out for consultation for eight weeks, to June 12.
Laura Gibb, Executive Director for Martynโs Law at the SIA, was among speakers at yesterday’s Aucso conference and is due to speak at numerous industry events in the coming months; such as the Blue Light Show at London Olympia on July 2. She said: “This consultation is an important opportunity for all premises and events in scope of Martynโs Law to engage with us directly and understand how we intend to regulate when Martynโs Law comes into force in spring 2027. We would like your views on the elements of the SIAโs guidance that set out our intended approach and how we propose to operate against the framework set out in the legislation. We would also welcome views on whether the guidance is understandable and easy to follow.
“Please tell us what you think. We need your input to make sure it is as clear as possible. We look forward to hearing from you.”
Photo by Mark Rowe: University of Exeter stand at the Aucso exhibition.
