By Niall Hassard
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (the 2025 Act), also known as Martyn’s Law, arises following the tragic events at the Ariana Grande concert in the Manchester Arena.
That terrorist attack, and attacks like the Bataclan Theatre in France, brought into stark focus the risks that terrorism poses to large gatherings of people.
The aim of the 2025 Act is to ensure that the public are better protected from terrorism.
Whilst the 2025 Act has been passed by Westminster, it is a UK-wide piece of legislation and, as this article will explain, it will have consequences for hospitality and licensed venues of a certain capacity across Scotland.
The 2025 Act will be coming into force within the next two years.Venues and operators need to get prepared now as there will be practical implications if you fail to do so.
In short it creates a two-tier ‘Protect Duty’. The tier depends on the capacity of the venue.
The Protect Duty is a responsibility imposed on those in charge of venues to take steps to mitigate the risk of terrorist attacks and have processes in place to ensure that you and your staff are prepared to protect the public if an attack occurs.
Key Requirements and Tiers
Martyn’s Law establishes two tiers, Standard Duty and Enhanced Duty.
Standard Duty premises are venues/spaces where 200 to 799 people could reasonably be present at one time. Within this Standard Duty tier the expectation is that the responsible person at these premises must implement basic public protection procedures to reduce the risk of harm during a terrorist incident.
In practice this means having plans for staff to follow in the event of an attack – e.g. procedures to evacuate, lockdown, or otherwise safeguard the public. You should also be providing relevant safety information on-site.
The focus at the Standard Duty tier is on practical planning and staff preparedness, not costly physical alterations.
The Enhanced Duty tier (and Qualifying Events) captures larger capacity venues where 800+ people could be present (or events with 800+ attendees, such as large, ticketed music/sporting events).
In addition to the standard procedures above, these larger venues must take additional security measures to reduce the venue’s vulnerability to attacks.
In practice this may include monitoring crowds and entry points, installing security systems (CCTV/ HVM) and other ‘reasonably practicable’ measures to deter or detect threats.
Enhanced Duty tier venues are also required to document their risk assessments and security plans and to appoint a senior individual responsible for compliance with Martyn’s Law.
Affected Premises
Hopefully it is apparent Martyn’s Law will apply to a wide variety of publicly accessible places including many hospitality and entertainment venues as well as festivals and events.
The responsible person is generally the person or organization in control of the venue or event (e.g. the business owner or operator).
Smaller pubs, bars and restaurants etc with a capacity below 200 persons are not within the scope of Martyn’s Law. Operators will not be legally required to implement the new measures (though they may choose to do so as best practice).
However, larger pubs, for example, a city-centre pub or beer hall that can host 200+ patrons at peak times will be classified as Standard Duty premises.
Enhanced Duty tier venues, for example, a large music venue or night club 800+, must go further and conduct a more detailed terrorism risk assessment. Accordingly, professional input may be required.
Martyn’s Law does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all solution but rather it expects venues to adopt ‘reasonably practicable’ measures commensurate with their risk profile.
Monitoring compliance
Martyn’s Law introduces a duty to notify the regulator about in-scope premises and events. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) will maintain a register of venues that fall under the Standard and Enhanced Duty.
Responsible persons will be required to register with the SIA and for Enhanced Duty venues and large events, there is also a duty to submit relevant documentation.
If a venue is found not to have met its obligations, the SIA has tools to enforce improvement. It can serve a Compliance Notice – essentially an instruction requiring the responsible person to take specific steps to remedy a breach. In more serious cases or where there is ongoing failure, the SIA can issue a Restriction Notice that imposes limitations on how the premises can be used.
In more extreme cases criminal prosecution for sustained failures could lead to fines and custodial sentences.
More information on Martyn’s law and requirements under the 2025 Act will undoubtedly come from Scottish Government as we move towards implementation, but in the meantime operators should begin their own planning to avoid being caught out.
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