Martyn's Law for soft play centres and family attractions
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 soft play centre: 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 soft play centre that means children and adults who can be present at once, counted together, at the weekend peak. Figures vary a lot between soft play centres and family attractions, 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 soft play centre or family attraction where 200 or more people can reasonably be expected at once is standard tier. Parents are counted with children.
What a standard tier soft play centre 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 soft play centre
Soft play has the hardest evacuation of any small venue: small children, socks, a frame full of them, and parents who will go in after their own child first. The pack's evacuation section has room for that: a sweep of the frame by staff and arrangements for children, including where separated children are taken.
Depending on where the danger is, lockdown and invacuation can be more practical for soft play than evacuation, and the pack's procedures help you decide when to prefer them.
Staff are young and part time, so the twenty-minute briefing and a one-page register are what will actually be done.
The pack
Six Word documents that take a standard tier soft play centre 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.