Also known as Protect Duty, Martyn’s Law is a UK bill introduced in May 2023 that will mandate safety planning and measures to enhance public safety during or in anticipation of a terrorist attack for all venues over a certain capacity. The bill has been created based on the campaigning of Figen Murray in the wake of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, where 22 concertgoers lost their lives, including her son Martyn Hett.

Under the law, venues will be split into Standard and Enhanced tiers based on their people capacity (see below). This changes their requirements and the fine for non-compliance. Fines range from a maximum of £500 a day plus a £10,000 maximum fixed penalty for Standard premises to whichever is greater between 1% of the maximum fixed penalty of £18 million or 5% of worldwide turnover for Enhanced premises.¹

Given the government’s promises, the price of these fines, and the responsibility for compliance that sits squarely on the business/organisation in control of the premises or event, it’s better to start preparing now. While it’s impossible to be fully Martyn’s Law compliant before the bill moves through Parliament, as the draft provisions it contains are subject to change, you can start planning and organising your business for the future. Let’s dive into what this could mean for you as a venue or third-party security business.

Martyn’s Law for Venues

If you’re a venue with over 100 people, including outdoor capacity, Martyn’s Law will likely mean you need to consider your current security measures and draw up plans for a terror attack.

What you need to know

Venues will be split into two tiers based on capacity: Standard (100-799 people) and Enhanced (800+ people), but it’s currently unconfirmed how the Government will assess official capacity. This may be based on capacity within fire risk assessments but is likely to include beer gardens and enclosed patios, so bear your outdoor capacity in mind when researching tiers.

Now, we’ve deliberately been vague about venues because Martyn’s Law would apply to any venue where ‘qualifying activities’ take place, including any locations for entertainment, leisure, retail, food and drink, health, education, museums and galleries, sports grounds, public areas of government buildings, visitor attractions, temporary events, and places of worship. The previous government estimated that about 65% of those in Standard Tier would be retail or hospitality spaces. Village or community halls, volunteer-led venues, places of worship and public government spaces will not be exempt from the law.

The kind of security measures and preparations venues must undertake for compliance are unconfirmed. However, this is likely to include practical measures or plans to avoid public harm in the event of a terror attack. This could include evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication plans. Depending on the size of your venue, you may have existing security measures and plans in place, so don’t feel you need to start from scratch, as you will likely be able to update or expand these plans. The exact measures needed will again differ for Standard and Enhanced tiers (see below) but you can check what these are currently via gov.uk or Protect UK but try to stay up to date on any Martyn’s Law news as these may change as the bill moves to become law.

You’ll then need to train staff to carry out these plans and assess whether external security assistance is needed to complete them, especially for larger venues. The government has stated that some venues and events that fall into the Enhanced tier may also require physical mitigations, such as CCTV installation. Both will impact time and resource availability, so remember that these will be on the horizon when the law comes in.

What you need to do now

Now’s a good time to assess your capacity, see if your venue would fall under Martyn’s Law, and, if so, which tier. If you can, research the measures the government has already mentioned that may be necessary. Start documenting plans in these areas or contact third-party security companies that offer advice on what to include in plans for these.

Even if you don’t want to spend the extra time and money planning security measures before the law comes in, you can start consolidating your paperwork, rotas and staff documentation to prepare yourself.

Martyn’s Law for Security Agencies

Maybe you’ve noticed an uptick in customers in sectors like retail and hospitality, or customers are bringing up Martyn’s Law with you directly. Still, either way, Martyn’s Law will likely create more enquiries and work for security agencies.

What to expect

In simple terms, if you don’t know Martyn’s Law, then research. Undoubtedly, prospective customers will look to you for expertise, so get to know the bill in its current state as well as you can. The actual measures and requirements for businesses under Martyn’s Law are subject to change, but the best places for up-to-date, accurate information will be gov.uk or Protect UK. By tier, measures will likely include:

Standard: low-cost, simple but effective activities to improve preparedness. This could include security training, information sharing and preparedness plans.
Enhanced: All of the above plus a risk assessment to inform the development and implementation of a thorough security plan, with subsequent measures to develop a vigilant and secure culture, such as physical measures like CCTV and a new system and process to enable better security considerations.

Although venues should be able to access statutory guidance and bespoke support from the government², this isn’t readily available in the short term. So, once you’ve acquired all the knowledge you can about compiling measures around Martyn’s Law, consider how you can get this information and expertise out to your customers.

What to do now

Anything you can do to showcase or get your security consulting services in front of customers will only help your growth right now. Get some information on your website, whether through a blog post, more of a product/solution offering page or offering resources like webinars and guides to customers on how to help potential customers prepare for Martyn’s Law. Additionally, consider how you can distribute information and knowledge on Martyn’s Law internally so your security consultants and your on-the-ground staff can become well-versed and answer customer questions.

Depending on your target audience for security services, you could design tailored security packages for Standard and Enhanced tiers or fold Martyn’s Law compliance into your existing offering for certain services. For example, if you often provide security guards for retail, reach out to your existing customers to start conversations on proactively getting them compliant and ensure that you offer services that meet Martyn’s Law as standard for new customers. You may even want to consider partnering with other businesses that specialise in risk assessments or security technology and installations, whether this is to expand the services you can help customers with or just show that you’re sharing knowledge.

Equally, you’ll want to make sure your business can handle any uptick in enquiries, that you have a good view of which of your consulting staff are free to help customers when, and that your on-the-ground security staff support is good to go.

How Can PARiM Help You Comply with Martyn’s Law?

While the details of Martyn’s Law remain to be seen, we can already be pretty certain that security staffers working with events, venues, and stadiums will want to be prepared to efficiently manage the admin side of Martyn’s Law. PARiM security workforce management software will ensure your company is prepared:

Quickly fill shifts for events: PARiM is designed to quickly fill shifts for events and monitor the coverage in real time. You can either schedule specific employees or publish open shifts to staff members with matching qualifications to ensure that all event shifts will be filled in accordance with Martyn’s Law.
Monitor staff attendance in real-time: The PARiM time clock app makes it easy for event security staff to clock in, while geolocation services ensure that this can only be done at the job site. Managers will see employee time and attendance in real time.
Set up security patrol routes: PARiM lets venues, and security companies set up NFC or Bluetooth tags as checkpoints for patrol routes. As Martyn’s Law may require precise coverage of specific areas, PARiM ensures that there are security staff present at checkpoints at any given time. Managers will receive real-time updates for each check-in.
Ensure proper staff training: Staying on top of training and qualifications for every staff member can be cumbersome, especially when you employ hundreds of security staff. PARiM lets you tie all the documentation to each employee profile, including qualifications, certificates, SIA licences and any possible upcoming training needed to comply with Martyn’s Law. Furthermore, you will get automatic reminders for any certificate that is about to expire.

Additional resources

We’ve barely scratched the surface of Martyn’s Law in this article, but if you want to learn more, we suggest:

Sources:

What is Martyn’s Law? A Guide for Businesses and Security Agencies