Why venues should start preparing to comply with ‘Martyn’s Law’ now

The Act applies to publicly accessible premises, which of course exist in many business sectors including hotels, hospitality, leisure, food and drink, entertainment, sports and education. Premises owners, occupiers, managers and many others in those sectors will be affected and should plan for when the Act comes into effect – most likely around April 2027. A good place to start is Home Office guidance published last month.

It states that people deemed to be a “responsible person” will have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to reduce vulnerability to terrorism attacks, and to mitigate harm to individuals if a terrorist attack were to occur. Those people might be owners of a venue or premises, occupiers or tenants, facility managers, local authorities or employers. The Home Office guidance is clear that they “cannot delegate their legal responsibility”.

Venues and events are included in the new rules where it is reasonable to expect that at least 200 individuals may be present at the same time.

Those with capacity of between 200 and 799 are classed as ‘standard duty premises’. They must implement basic public protection measures, but physical modifications such as metal detectors will not be mandatory. In fact, it is likely that many of these venues already meet many of the new requirements, so compliance with the Act will not be too onerous for them. The UK government estimates that, for a typical venue in this tier, compliance will cost around £330 per year.

However, venues and events with a capacity of over 800 people are ‘enhanced duty premises’ under the Act, and they will be required to implement enhanced protection against terrorist attacks “so far as reasonably practicable”. Further measures may include arranging for regular risk assessments and security training to be carried out, CCTV coverage, entry screening and bag checks. A designated senior individual must have responsibility for compliance, and directors and other officers will be at a significantly greater risk of prosecution if a breach is found.

As for enforcement, both standard and enhanced venues will have to report to the Security Industry Authority, which will have powers to inspect venues or events, and to sanction those who fail to comply with their duties. Those sanctions range from compliance notices that require venues to carry out corrective measures to, in the most serious cases, fines of up to £18 million or 5 per cent of global turnover (whichever is greater).

Any organisation that might be affected by the new Act should start preparing now. Specifically, they should: identify who their “responsible persons” will be; review their risk assessment procedures and their security protocols, and make any changes that are required; work out what staff training will be needed; and understand their future reporting obligations to the Security Industry Authority.

Shepherd and Wedderburn’s team of health and safety specialists will be happy to provide expert advice and guidance if required.

Killian Dockrell is a Solicitor, Shepherd and Wedderburn