Martyn's Law: What Schools, Academies and Community Venues in the North West Need to Do Before 2027

Martyn's Law — officially the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 — is coming into force for schools, sports clubs, community centres and other public-facing venues across the North West. The Act itself received Royal Assent and came into force on 3 April 2025, but the government has built in a 24-month implementation period before the duties become legally enforceable. That puts the real compliance deadline at spring 2027, with the Home Office publishing its final statutory guidance in April 2026.

If you run a school, academy, community centre or sports club, here's what you need to know now — not in six months' time.

Does it apply to you?

Martyn's Law applies if it's reasonable to expect 200 or more people to be present on your premises at once — even if that only happens occasionally, such as at a school fete, sports day, prize-giving or evening event. If your site never realistically has more than 199 people on it at any one time, the law doesn't apply.

Education settings sit in the standard tier regardless of their capacity — the enhanced tier (which brings additional physical security requirements) doesn't apply to schools. That's good news: standard-tier duties are about documented procedures and staff training, not turnstiles and bag scanners.

Who's responsible?

For maintained schools, the responsible person is the governing body. For academies, it's the trust board. Either way, responsibility can't just be quietly delegated to a site manager and forgotten about — the guidance expects sign-off and ongoing oversight at governance level.

What standard-tier compliance actually looks like

For most schools and community venues, meeting the standard tier means:

• Having a documented plan for what staff should do in the event of an attack (invacuation, lockdown, evacuation)
• Training relevant staff so they know that plan and their role in it
• Reviewing and updating the plan when the site, its use, or its typical numbers change

It's proportionate — this isn't about turning your school into a fortress. It's about having a clear, rehearsed procedure that staff actually know, rather than a policy document that sits in a drawer.

What to do before spring 2027

1. Work out your numbers. Look honestly at your busiest events, not just an average school day, to establish whether you cross the 200-person threshold.
2. Identify your responsible person and get the topic onto a governors' or trustees' agenda now, not next term.
3. Draft or review your procedures against the Home Office's April 2026 statutory guidance.
4. Plan staff training — this needs to be genuine and refreshed, not a box-ticking exercise done once and forgotten.
5. Build it into your existing compliance calendar alongside fire risk assessments and other statutory reviews, so it doesn't fall through the cracks.

Where this fits with everything else

Martyn's Law is landing on top of an already busy compliance calendar for schools and community venues — fire risk assessments, health and safety inspections, safeguarding changes due from the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for the 2026/27 academic year, and routine statutory maintenance. Treating each of these as a one-off task rather than part of a joined-up compliance programme is where things start to slip.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on where your site currently stands against the standard-tier requirements, or want it folded into a wider compliance audit, get in touch for a free 30-minute consultation.

This article is general guidance, not legal advice. For a definitive view on your specific site, consult the Home Office's statutory guidance or a suitably qualified security adviser.