Martyn’s Law – a practical guide for schools

Insight

24.09.2025

Government policy paper published September 2025

The Department for Education issued a policy paper, How Martyn's Law will affect education settings, on 1 September 2025, setting out how requirements under Martyn's Law will apply to schools, colleges, universities and other education settings. The guidance confirms that education providers (other than higher education providers and privately owned independent training providers) receive special consideration, and will fall within the Standard Tier, regardless of size. Under the new law, education providers will be required to have proportionate security measures in place, including documented plans for lockdown, evacuation and communication in the event of a terrorist incident.

Although the Government has indicated there will be an implementation period of at least 24 months (from April 2025) before the Act comes into force, schools should begin preparing now by reviewing their existing emergency procedures, training staff and ensuring that policies align with the new statutory requirements.

Read our article from June 2025 below, for an overview of what the new law means in practice for schools.

Background

Back in October last year, when the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill – also known as Martyn’s Law – was progressing through Parliament, we wrote about what the new law would mean for the education sector. All education providers will have to comply with the new duty, but the Act makes specific provisions for schools (and childcare and further education establishments), in recognition of the fact that their existing security arrangements are likely to be more highly developed than other premises.

The Act became law on 3 April this year but has yet to come into force: the Government states there will be "at least" a two-year implementation period, to give the Security Industry Authority (SIA) (a body which already exists) chance to establish its new function, and for statutory guidance to be published. In the meantime, schools should consider now how the new law will affect them.

What does the Act do?

The Act puts a new duty on those in charge of premises to which the public have access for certain purposes, and events open to the public, to consider how they would respond to a terrorist attack. The premises covered by the Act are wide-ranging and include retail (shops) and leisure venues (such as theatres and sports arenas) but also include education providers. The Act creates two levels of duty – a standard tier and an enhanced tier – which apply depending on how many people it is reasonable to expect to attend the premises or event. The Act will only apply where it is reasonable to expect at least 200 individuals to be present at any one time, with the standard tier applying to premises holding between 200 and 799 individuals, and the enhanced tier to premises holding 800 or more. Standalone events (including purely open-air events) will need to comply where 800 or more are expected to be present at once, and express permission is required to attend (regardless of whether people must pay to attend).

Where premises fall within the standard tier, the person in charge (the "responsible person") must notify the SIA of their premises, and put in place "reasonable and appropriate" procedures to protect the public, such as plans for how to evacuate or invacuate the premises (ie moving people to a safe place within the premises), how to lock them down and how to communicate with those present. This does not extend to making physical alterations to the premises or to purchasing any special equipment. Where premises or events fall within the enhanced tier, the Act places additional duties on them to take measures to reduce the vulnerability of the premises or event to terrorism, and to reduce the risk of physical harm if an attack were to occur, such as monitoring the site and installing safety glass.

The Act provides that schools (primary, secondary, academies and further education providers) will only ever be standard tier, regardless of size, and that any events held there will also only ever be subject to standard tier requirements, but how does this work in practice?

Practical considerations

How to count to 200. Premises where it is reasonable to expect fewer than 200 people are excluded from the provisions of the Act altogether. This raises two considerations; the first of which is how to work out how many people it is reasonable to expect. The Act’s accompanying factsheet states that any reasonable method can be used to assess numbers, such as safe occupancy numbers for fire safety, or historic attendance data. If they cannot be used, or would create a misleading impression, any other reasonable method can be used. In the case of schools, it might be reasonable to use the combined pupil, staff, and visitor numbers. However, the second consideration is that even if schools normally have fewer than 200 individuals on site, if it is reasonable to expect there may be 200 or more on site, even if only occasionally – such as for carol concerts, or prize-giving – this will be sufficient to bring the school within the scope of the Act. A one-off event, at which there are unexpectedly 250 individuals, does not matter: what it is reasonable to expect, if only occasionally, is key.
Will schools have to comply with enhanced tier requirements? As above, there is a specific exclusion in the Act, meaning that even if it is reasonable to expect 800 or more individuals on site, schools will only ever have to comply with the standard tier requirements.
What is the "premises"? The "premises" includes not just the main school building, but also all related buildings and ancillary land, as long as they are all used (wholly or mainly) for the purpose of being a school. A campus will be treated as one premises.
What about staff and pupil accommodation? This is not directly addressed by the Act, but where staff or pupil accommodation is provided on the main school site, then it is likely to fall within the definition of the premises and be treated as part of the main site. Where schools own off-site staff accommodation, however, this will not be caught (and it is unlikely to meet the minimum size threshold in any event).
What about sports grounds and other open-air sites? Sports grounds within the main school grounds will be included as part of the premises. Where they are off-site, they will count as premises in their own right, where there is a building (however basic), access to them is controlled (which will almost certainly be the case), and it is reasonable to expect at least 200 to be present at least occasionally.
What about speech days and prize-giving? As above, where events are held on school premises, even if more than 800 are expected, the school will only ever need to comply with the standard tier requirements.
What about out-of-term events on school grounds? It is arguable whether the exemption for events held on school premises (above) would extend to situations where schools let third parties use their sites for events entirely unconnected with school purposes during the holidays. The guidance due to be published may clarify matters, but in the meantime, it may be prudent to assume the event will be within scope of the Act (and the enhanced tier requirements will apply), where the numbers threshold is met. The responsible person in this case would be the company in charge of the event.
Who is responsible for complying? The responsible person is, generally speaking, the person who has control of the premises for the relevant use. In the case of schools, the Act states specifically that the responsible person will be the governing body, or where there is none, the proprietor.
Higher education. The special provisions relating to schools do not apply to higher education establishments, which will be subject to standard and enhanced tier requirements in the usual manner. This applies to both premises (which here specifically includes any off-site student accommodation they own or manage) and events.

As the Act implies, schools are already likely to have appropriate plans in place (increasingly, schools are running lockdown drills alongside fire drills); however, they will also need to notify the SIA of their premises in due course. More thought is likely to be required where schools own land away from the main site, and where they permit third parties to use their land, whether on or off site, for non-school related activities.

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.