Martyn's Law for non-league football clubs
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 is not in force yet. The SIA expects it to come into force in spring 2027 and will confirm the date. Here is how it applies to a football club: how to count your capacity, which tier you fall into, and what has to be in place.
Counting capacity
The figure that decides the tier is the greatest number of people it is reasonable to expect to be present at the same time, from time to time, including staff. For a football club that means spectators on the busiest match days you can expect, plus players, officials, staff, volunteers and people in the clubhouse and bar. Figures vary a lot between non-league football clubs, so work out your own. Below 200 the Act does not apply. 200 to 799 is standard tier. 800 and over is enhanced tier.
Which tier
A ground where 200 to 799 people can reasonably be expected at once, from time to time, is standard tier. If 800 or more can be expected from time to time, for example at cup ties or derbies, the ground is enhanced tier. A ground with free, open access and no checks on entry may be excluded as open-air premises (Schedule 2, paragraph 3).
What a standard tier football club must have
Once the Act is in force, notify the SIA of the premises and the responsible person through the SIA's online portal. Anyone already responsible on the start date has three months. Have public protection procedures in place, so far as reasonably practicable, for four situations: evacuation (getting people out), invacuation (bringing people in and keeping them inside), lockdown (securing the premises) and communication (telling people what to do). Staff who have a role in them need to know what it is. No equipment, no searches and no security staff are required at this tier. The SIA can impose a penalty of up to £10,000, and up to £500 a day if a compliance notice is not met.
What that looks like in a football club
A football club's crowd is outside, moving, and partly in the bar. The pack's evacuation section asks the questions a ground needs to answer: which gates open, who unlocks them, where the crowd goes, and who speaks on the PA.
Match-day staff are stewards, often supplied by an agency or volunteers. The staff briefing can be the pre-match briefing, and the training record can be the register of who was briefed for which fixture.
Clubhouses used for functions on non-match days need the same procedures under a different capacity. The pack's capacity assessment records both.
The pack
Six Word documents that take a standard tier football club from a blank sheet to ready in an afternoon: capacity and tier assessment, the four procedures written to fill in for your building, a twenty-minute staff briefing with training record, the SIA notification worksheet and an annual review and evidence log. Every section says what the Home Office guidance expects before you fill it in, and the source is noted at the end of each document.
Buy the pack, £450 per venue What's inside
Instant download after payment, receipt by email, single venue licence. Guidance-based templates prepared from the Act and the Home Office statutory guidance. Not legal advice, not drafted by a firm of solicitors, and not endorsed by the SIA or the Home Office. You stay responsible for your own assessment. We are not a security consultancy and this does not replace advice from your police Counter Terrorism Security Adviser.