Martyn's Law for schools and colleges
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 school: 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 school that means pupils, staff and visitors who can be present at once, including a full assembly or a school production. Figures vary a lot between schools and colleges, so work out your own. Below 200 the Act does not apply. At 200 and over these premises are standard tier however many people are expected, by Schedule 1 to the Act, so the enhanced tier does not arise.
Which tier
Schools, further education colleges, 16 to 19 academies and registered childcare where 200 or more people can reasonably be expected are standard tier however large they are, by paragraphs 13 to 15 of Schedule 1 to the Act. A school of 1,500 pupils is standard tier, not enhanced. Events held at these premises, such as a festival on the playing fields, are not qualifying events. Universities are not covered by this rule.
What a standard tier school 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 school
Every school has a lockdown procedure already and most have evacuation and invacuation under different names. You can use the pack to map what the school has onto the four procedures the Act names, so the existing plan is checked against the Act and the gaps filled rather than starting again.
The Act names the responsible person for a school: the governing body or, where there is none, the proprietor. For a pupil referral unit it is the local authority. The pack's first document records which, plus the person they have designated day to day.
Staff briefing fits an inset day slot. The training record is the register the school keeps anyway.
The pack
Six Word documents that take a standard tier school 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.