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Martyn's Law / Protect Duty readiness

Martyn's Law Security Readiness

A practical review of role clarity, procedures, escalation, visitor management and supporting controls for sites with public access.

Many public-facing premises already have security in place. The real question is whether the model is clear, current and robust enough to support Martyn's Law readiness in practice.

Having visible security is not the same as being fully ready. For shopping centres, public buildings, mixed-use estates and other public-facing environments, readiness depends on clear roles, practical procedures and controls that work under pressure.

Guidance only — not legal advice or a formal compliance assessment.

Role clarity

Procedures

Controls

Operating model

Quick answer

Martyn's Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025) requires publicly accessible venues with a capacity of 100+ to implement protective security measures. Standard tier (100–799 capacity) venues must have terrorism protection procedures and staff training. Enhanced tier (800+ capacity) venues must also carry out a formal security assessment, appoint a responsible person and produce a written security plan. SPS Security provides practical Martyn's Law readiness support — including reviews, procedure development, guarding, patrols, keyholding, CCTV monitoring and staff awareness — for venues across Hull, Grimsby, Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, York, Scunthorpe, Lincoln and the wider Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region. This is practical guidance, not legal advice.

What is Martyn's Law?

Martyn's Law, formally known as the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, is UK legislation introduced to improve protective security at publicly accessible venues and events. Named after Martyn Hett, who was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, the law places legal requirements on venue operators and event organisers to have security plans in place to protect the public from terrorist threats.

Standard tier and enhanced tier explained

Standard tier — 100 to 799 capacity

  • • Implement terrorism protection procedures
  • • Provide relevant staff training and awareness
  • • No formal written security plan required at this tier
  • • Proportionate measures appropriate to the venue's size and risk

Enhanced tier — 800+ capacity

  • • All standard tier requirements, plus:
  • • Carry out a formal terrorism risk assessment
  • • Appoint a designated responsible person
  • • Produce a written security plan
  • • More comprehensive protective measures

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is the regulator for Martyn's Law compliance. Failure to comply once the legislation comes into force could result in penalties.

Who does Martyn's Law affect?

The legislation applies to publicly accessible locations with a capacity of 100 or more people. This includes shopping centres, public buildings, entertainment venues, sports grounds, education campuses, healthcare facilities, mixed-use estates, hotels and conference venues, places of worship and other premises where members of the public have access.

What do venues need to do?

Venues in scope must assess their vulnerability to terrorist attack, develop and implement appropriate security procedures, and ensure relevant staff are trained. Enhanced tier venues must also appoint a responsible person and produce a formal security plan.

How SPS Security can help

SPS Security provides practical Martyn's Law readiness support for venues and organisations across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, including Hull, Grimsby, Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, York, Scunthorpe, Lincoln and surrounding areas. We are an SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) holder, established in 1992, with particular experience in public-facing environments. We help clients review risks, roles, procedures, guarding, patrols, CCTV, keyholding and response arrangements — we do not provide legal advice or formal compliance sign-off.

Free online Martyn's Law Awareness Check to gauge your current understanding
Comprehensive Martyn's Law Readiness Review covering procedures, roles and controls
Help developing compliant security procedures and SOPs
Staff awareness training and operational briefing

Why venues across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire trust SPS Security

SIA Approved Contractor (ACS) — held continuously since 2007
Established 1992 — over 30 years of practical security delivery
24/7 control room in Hull with live monitoring and escalation
Regional coverage across Hull, Grimsby, Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, York, Scunthorpe and Lincoln
SIA-licensed officers — directly employed, not subcontracted
Practical readiness support — not legal advice or compliance consultancy

Why This Matters

Why This Matters

Martyn's Law places greater attention on preparedness, protective security and the ability of organisations to understand and manage risks within public-facing premises.

For many sites, the challenge is not whether security exists. The challenge is whether responsibilities are clear, procedures are understood, escalation routes work in practice, and evidence is available to show that key risks are being managed.

A review can help identify where operational gaps may exist before they become more difficult to resolve.

Start with our Martyn's Law readiness review to assess your current position, or take the quick Martyn's Law awareness check to identify knowledge gaps across your team. Our security guarding service provides SIA-licensed officers trained in protective security for public-facing environments. We have particular experience in education security for schools and colleges, where Martyn's Law obligations are especially relevant. For retail parks and public venues, our team can help you review roles, procedures and escalation in a practical, site-specific way. Speak to our team to discuss a site-specific Martyn's Law readiness review.

Built for Practical Site Review

This guidance is designed for estates, facilities, operations and security teams reviewing real operating models, not just written policies.

The review focuses on practical readiness themes such as role clarity, escalation, visitor management, emergency procedures, reporting, evidence capture and supporting security controls.

It is particularly relevant where public access, shared responsibility, contractors, tenants, visitors and out-of-hours risks all overlap.

Especially Relevant for Public-Facing and Multi-Use Sites

Martyn's Law readiness is particularly relevant for sites where members of the public, staff, tenants, contractors, visitors or service users share the same environment.

This includes shopping centres, retail parks, universities, colleges, large office buildings, commercial estates, healthcare environments, transport-linked sites and other busy public-facing premises.

These sites often involve multiple occupiers, shared public areas, back-of-house routes, service yards, car parks, reception areas, visitor access points and out-of-hours activity. Readiness depends on how clearly landlords, managing agents, facilities teams, security teams, cleaning teams, contractors, tenants and site users understand their roles.

Key areas to consider include entrances and exits, public circulation areas, washrooms, car parks, loading areas, vacant units, reception points, event days, seasonal peaks, control room escalation, tenant communication, contractor access and emergency procedures.

In these environments, preparedness is not just about visible security presence. It is about coordination, role clarity, evidence, escalation and public reassurance.

What the Readiness Review Looks At

Site type, public access and operating profile
Security roles and duty clarity
Emergency procedures and escalation routes
Visitor management and access control
CCTV, patrols, monitoring and supporting systems
Out-of-hours resilience

Public-Facing Site Areas Reviewed

Entrances, exits and reception points
Public circulation areas and shared spaces
Car parks, service yards and loading areas
Back-of-house routes and vacant areas
Event days and seasonal peak periods
Tenant, contractor and facilities coordination

What You Receive

Overall readiness summary
Key strengths
Potential blind spots
Operational risk summary
Priority actions
Suggested next steps
Recommended SPS support areas

Interactive review tool

Martyn's Law Readiness & Security Role Review

Use the flagship review tool to assess role clarity, procedures, controls and out-of-hours resilience.

Supporting guidance

Open awareness check

Insight article

When Security Becomes a Secondary Duty: The Risks of Role Dilution

A practical look at how security can become diluted by reception, concierge, admin, FM support and other non-security tasks.

Read article

Insight article

Multi-Skilled Security Roles: Where They Work and Where They Create Risk

A balanced article on where blended roles can work well, and where mixed duties begin to create operational confusion.

Read article

Supporting insight

Martyn's Law Readiness: What Public-Facing Sites Should Be Reviewing Now

A broad practical article on the review work many public-facing sites should be doing now.

Read article

Supporting insight

Are Your Security Officers Doing Too Many Non-Security Tasks?

A problem-aware article for sites where security roles may be drifting into wider support duties.

Read article

Supporting insight

Front-of-House, Concierge and Security: How to Keep the Role Clear

A practical guide for office, HQ and public-facing environments where service and security overlap.

Read article

Supporting insight

Lockdown, Invacuation, Escalation and SOPs: What Good Looks Like

A procedure-led article focused on stronger SOPs, escalation, drills and practical ownership.

Read article

Sector relevance

The same issue shows up differently across sectors

The review themes stay consistent, but the risk picture changes depending on public access, sensitive areas, operating pattern and how security responsibilities are blended into wider operations.

Hospitals and healthcare

Reviewing public access, sensitive zones, escalation and blended security responsibilities across busy environments.

Education and campuses

Reviewing communication, lockdown, invacuation and role clarity across open or mixed-access settings.

Office / HQ / front-of-house

Reviewing reception-led security models, visitor management and how visible presence translates into real readiness.

Mixed-use estates

Reviewing how shared access, varied users and blended duties affect escalation, control and oversight.

Industrial / logistics / gatehouse

Reviewing gatehouse duties, access control, out-of-hours exposure and how admin tasks interact with security priorities.

Public buildings and civic environments

Reviewing public-facing footfall, procedures, escalation ownership and the structure of mixed service roles.

Practical Readiness Guidance Disclaimer

This page provides practical readiness guidance only. It is not legal advice and does not provide a compliance determination under Martyn's Law.

For the latest official position, organisations should refer directly to ProtectUK, GOV.UK and any formal guidance issued by the relevant authorities.

The review tool is designed to help identify possible operational gaps, role clarity issues and control weaknesses that may merit a more detailed site-specific review.

Official resources

Trusted official sources

For the latest official guidance, refer directly to ProtectUK and GOV.UK.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

Martyn's Law (officially the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025) is UK legislation requiring publicly accessible venues and events to implement protective security measures. Named after Martyn Hett, who was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, it places legal duties on venue operators to protect the public.
Standard tier applies to venues with a capacity of 100 to 799 and requires terrorism protection procedures and staff training. Enhanced tier applies to venues with a capacity of 800 or more and additionally requires a formal security assessment, a designated responsible person and a written security plan.
Martyn's Law applies to publicly accessible locations with a capacity of 100 or more people, including shopping centres, entertainment venues, sports grounds, education campuses, healthcare facilities, hotels, places of worship and other premises where members of the public have access.
At the standard tier, venues must implement terrorism protection procedures and train relevant staff. At the enhanced tier, venues must also carry out a formal security assessment and produce a written security document. SPS Security can help venues understand what is required and implement appropriate measures.
A security-led operating model is one where security duties remain clearly defined, protected and supervised, rather than becoming an undefined add-on to reception, concierge, facilities or general support work. This means primary, secondary and tertiary duties are mapped, role dilution is actively managed, and core security activity such as patrol, challenge and incident response is not displaced by non-security tasks.
Yes — in some environments mixed roles can work well. The issue is whether priorities, duty hierarchy, procedures and supervision are clear enough to stop core security activity being diluted. SPS helps venues review whether blended roles are creating operational risk or undermining readiness.
Some education venues will fall within scope depending on their capacity and how they are used. Venues used for public events, performances or large gatherings may be in scope even if day-to-day education activities are not. We recommend all schools and colleges carry out an awareness check to understand their position.
SPS Security offers a free Martyn's Law Awareness Check, a comprehensive Readiness Review, help developing compliant security procedures, staff awareness training, and ongoing security services including guarding, mobile patrols, keyholding and CCTV monitoring across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Yes. SPS can provide an independent readiness review to assess your current arrangements, regardless of who provides your day-to-day security. The review covers procedures, staffing, escalation, physical controls and documentation — helping you identify gaps and prioritise improvements.
Yes. The online readiness review is free to use and takes 3–5 minutes. It provides a personalised report identifying strengths, gaps and priority actions. For a site-specific review carried out by an SPS security professional, contact our team.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is the designated regulator for Martyn's Law compliance. Failure to comply once the legislation comes into force could result in penalties.

Next step

Start Your Martyn's Law Readiness Review

Use the review to understand where your current security model appears strong, where gaps may exist and what practical steps could improve preparedness.

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