Does Martyn's Law Apply to Village Halls and Community Venues?

Many village halls and community venues sit well below 200 people on a normal day, but host the occasional fete, wedding reception, pantomime or fundraiser that pushes attendance much higher. That single busy event can be enough to bring the venue into scope of Martyn's Law.

The law in question is the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (known as Martyn's Law), which received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025. It introduces a duty to put public protection arrangements in place at premises and events where larger numbers of people gather.

The threshold that matters for community venues is 200. If 200 or more individuals, including staff and volunteers, may reasonably be expected to be present at the same time, the standard duty applies.

The Act is expected to come into force in Spring 2027, after an implementation period of at least 24 months from Royal Assent. There is no legal duty to comply until commencement, so committees have time to assess their position and prepare.

The government's section 27 statutory guidance, published on 15 April 2026, sets out how the duties work in practice and is the primary source trustees should read.

How Capacity Decides Whether a Venue Is in Scope

Martyn's Law uses two tiers, both measured by the number of people who may reasonably be expected to be present at the same time. The count includes staff and volunteers, not just members of the public.

Standard duty premises are those where 200 to 799 people may be present. Enhanced duty premises and qualifying events are those at 800 or more, which most village halls will never reach.

For a typical community venue, the realistic question is whether the 200 threshold is ever crossed. A hall used for a weekly toddler group of 30 is plainly out of scope, but the same hall laid out for a 220-seat charity concert is a different matter.

Counting Everyone, Including Staff and Volunteers

The number is a count of everyone who may be present together, so bar staff, stewards, the committee on the door and volunteers in the kitchen all count towards the total. This often surprises trustees who assume only ticketed guests matter.

Capacity should be assessed against peak use rather than an average day. A venue is in scope if its busiest reasonably expected gathering reaches 200, even when most of the calendar sits far below that figure.

How Occasional Events Bring a Venue Into Scope

This is the point that catches small venues out. A hall that is normally below 200 can still be a standard duty premises if it occasionally hosts events that reasonably expect 200 or more people.

The test is whether such attendance may reasonably be expected, not whether it happens every week. A village hall that hosts one or two large events a year, such as a Christmas fair or a wedding for 250 guests, needs to consider whether those events bring it into scope.

Where a venue occasionally hosts events of 200 or more people, those events can bring it within the standard tier for the time they take place. Committees should assess capacity against these peak events, not only everyday use.

What the Standard Duty Actually Requires

If a community venue is in scope, the standard duty under section 5 is to put in place appropriate and reasonably practicable public protection procedures across four areas. These are evacuation, invacuation (moving people to safety inside the premises), lockdown, and communication.

These procedures are expected to be simple and low cost, with no requirement to buy equipment. For most halls this means written, practical arrangements that volunteers can follow, not a large security spend.

The heavier enhanced duty under section 6 (additional public protection measures, a designated senior individual and a compliance document provided to the Security Industry Authority) only applies at 800 or more. Almost all village halls fall well below that, so the focus for committees is the standard tier.

Quick Reference: Where Your Venue Sits

Peak expected attendance (including staff and volunteers)	Tier	What is required
Under 200	Out of scope	No Martyn's Law duty
200 to 799	Standard duty	Public protection procedures (section 5): evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, communication
800 or more	Enhanced duty	Procedures plus public protection measures, a designated senior individual and a compliance document to the SIA

What Trustees and Committees Must Do

1. Assess the venue's peak realistic attendance, counting staff and volunteers as well as guests, and check whether any event reaches 200.
2. List the occasional larger events the hall hosts or lets out for, and decide which of them may reasonably be expected to reach the threshold.
3. Clarify the peak capacity of any events you host, including occasional one-off bookings.
4. Prepare simple public protection procedures covering evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication if the venue is in scope.
5. Brief volunteers and regular hirers so the people on site know what to do if an incident occurs.
6. Review your position before commencement in Spring 2027, and keep it under review as the venue's use changes.

Common Errors to Avoid

• Assuming a venue is out of scope because it is usually quiet, when an occasional 200-plus event can bring it in.
• Counting only ticketed guests and leaving out staff and volunteers, which understates the real total.
• Treating an average day as the test instead of peak expected use.
• Assuming everyday low numbers keep you out of scope when occasional events exceed 200.
• Waiting until commencement to start, when assessing capacity and writing procedures takes time.
• Buying security equipment under the impression it is required, when the standard duty is about simple, low cost procedures.

Enforcement and Penalties

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is the regulator for Martyn's Law. Its enforcement tools include compliance notices, restriction notices and monetary penalties.

For standard duty premises, the maximum penalty for non-compliance is £10,000, with daily penalties of up to £500. The far larger enhanced duty penalties (up to £18 million or 5% of qualifying worldwide revenue) apply only to the 800-plus tier, which is not where community venues sit.

The SIA's draft section 12 statutory (enforcement) guidance is out for consultation, closing at 11:59pm on Friday 12 June 2026. It gives committees an early picture of how the regulator intends to operate.

How Policy Pros Can Help

Policy Pros writes practical, premises-specific Martyn's Law documentation for community venues. If your hall is in scope, we produce the public protection procedures it needs through our Martyn's Law compliance documentation service, written for your building and your volunteers rather than pulled from a generic template.

For the wider picture, our Martyn's Law 2027 compliance guide explains the full duty, and the capacity assessment guide walks through how to count people correctly and decide which tier you fall into.

Community venues often face the same questions as churches and other shared community buildings, so our guide for churches and places of worship and the focused standard tier procedures guide are useful companions. To scope the documents your venue needs, get in touch for a quote.