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Martyn's Law for places of worship of every faith

If 200 or more people can be in your place of worship at once, say at a festival, a big wedding or a funeral, the law asks for a few simple plans and a team who knows them. hailo writes them for your building and briefs your volunteers, trustees and hirers.

Download Martyn's Law on one page for your noticeboard or committee (PDF, free).

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People of different ages and backgrounds chatting in a bright hall after a gathering.

When you might reach 200

  • Festivals and holy days, such as Eid, Diwali, Vaisakhi, Christmas or Rosh Hashanah
  • Weekly prayers and services at their busiest
  • Large weddings and funerals
  • Shared meals, concerts and community events

Count staff and volunteers too. Not sure? Check your venue.

A worked example

Lock down plan

Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Millbrook

Up to 420 people at once ยท standard tier

During the Vaisakhi celebrations, a volunteer on the door is told of a threat in the street outside.

  1. 1The volunteer closes and locks the main door, and tells the person in charge.
  2. 2The person in charge reads the short message on the card by the stage, calmly, once.
  3. 3Everyone stays inside, away from the windows on the street side, and moves towards the langar hall at the back.
  4. 4The person in charge calls 999 and waits for the police before anyone opens a door.
A made-up venue. Your plans are written from your own answers.

Who counts in a place of worship

Count everyone who could be in the building at the same time at your busiest gathering: worshippers and visitors, children, the people leading worship, musicians and singers, the cooks and servers, and the volunteers on the door. The Home Office counts volunteers as staff.

If your prayer hall and a community hall are used together, for example worship followed by a shared meal, count everyone across both. Count the parts used for worship and the other uses the law lists, such as a hall for hire. A private flat on the same site isn't counted.

What doesn't add up is separate prayers, services or sessions. If 150 people come in the morning and 150 come in the evening, and the building empties in between, your number is 150. Count the most people inside at once.

If 200 or more at once is something you can expect from time to time, the law applies to you. However many come, worship keeps you in the standard tier.

Busy days across the year, in every faith

Most places of worship are busiest on a handful of days a year. For example:

  • A mosque at Eid prayers, and Jumu'ah during Ramadan
  • A gurdwara at Vaisakhi and on Gurpurabs
  • A mandir at Diwali and Navratri
  • A synagogue at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
  • A church at Christmas and Easter
  • A Buddhist temple at Vesak
  • Any place of worship for a big wedding, a funeral or a memorial, a community iftar, a concert or an open day

Hirers and visiting groups in your building

Many places of worship let their halls for weddings, parties, classes and community groups. When you hire out your building, you stay the responsible person. The Home Office's guidance says to explain to each hirer what's expected of them, and to be able to show the SIA that you did.

That holds even for a big event. In the Home Office's own example, an events company hires a synagogue for a fundraising concert of 1,000 people. The synagogue stays in the standard tier, the concert isn't a qualifying event, and the governing body stays responsible. Its hire agreement can ask the organiser to help with the plans.

It works the other way too. If your community prays in a hired community centre, say for Friday prayers or during Ramadan, the centre is still assessed as a community centre, and the people who run it are usually responsible for it.

A second plan for a made-up mosque

Here's part of a made-up mosque's plan for getting everyone out (evacuation) during Eid prayers.

Notice that people don't all gather in one place outside. The Home Office's guidance gives the example of a place of worship whose fire assembly point could be the wrong place in an attack, so its plan tells people to move away in different directions instead.

From a made-up plan

Get everyone out plan

Millbrook Central Mosque

A made-up mosque with a main prayer hall, a women's prayer hall upstairs and a community room.

When we use it
There's a threat inside the building, or the police tell us to leave.
Who starts it
The duty trustee. If they're leading prayers, the senior volunteer on the main door.
What we say
A short, calm message over the speakers, in English and Urdu, read from the card by the minbar.
Ways out
The main doors to the street, the side door by the wudu area, and the stairs from the women's hall to the back door.
Where people go
Away from the building in different directions, not to the car park. Volunteers walk with anyone who needs help.
Who calls 999
The duty trustee, who then tells the police who may still be inside.
A made-up venue, to show what part of a written plan looks like. Yours is written from your own answers.

Getting ready with your trustees and volunteers

The responsible person is whoever controls the building for worship. For most places of worship that's the trustees, the management committee or the governing body, rather than one person. One person can lead the work on its behalf.

Then count your busiest gathering, write your four plans, brief the volunteers with a part to play, and tell the SIA who is responsible when it says how. The duties are expected to start in spring 2027.

There's no course to sit. The Home Office's guidance says learning can be a team briefing, an induction or an annual refresher, as long as people know the plans for your building and their part in them.

Why hailo suits places of worship

Places of worship stay in the standard tier

However many people come, places of worship stay in the standard tier. There's no need for security staff, bag searches or new equipment.

Written for your volunteers

The people on the door and helping out change from week to week. Each one gets their own short briefing link and confirms they've read it.

Hirers too

If your hall is hired for weddings, parties and groups, the hirer gets a briefing for the building when they book, so the plan works on their day as well as yours.

What the law asks at the standard tier

Get everyone out

Evacuation

How you move people out of the building, or part of it, quickly and safely.

Bring everyone in

Invacuation

How you bring people inside, or to a safer room, when outside is the danger.

Lock down

Lockdown

How you stop people getting in or out, for example by locking doors.

Keep people informed

Communication

How you tell people what's happening and what to do: stay put, or move away.

What the standard tier doesn't ask for

No hardware, no guards, no course. It's about plans and people knowing them.Home Office factsheet

  • Not needed: Security staff
  • Not needed: Bag searches
  • Not needed: CCTV or new equipment
  • Not needed: Building work
  • Not needed: A training course

Guidance worth reading from government and faith bodies

Other organisations' guidance, for information. We don't endorse it and it isn't legal advice.

Questions

Does Martyn's Law apply to our place of worship?

It applies if 200 or more people, including volunteers, can reasonably be expected in the building at the same time, whatever your faith. Count your busiest gathering, not an ordinary week. Our free scope check takes two minutes.

Do we need to count the hall separately?

Count the people you'd expect in the premises at the same time. If the prayer hall and a community hall are used together, for example a service followed by a shared meal, count everyone. The Home Office guidance explains how to decide where your premises begin and end. Read the Home Office guidance

Who is the responsible person for a place of worship?

Usually the body that runs the building, such as the trustees or the management committee, rather than one volunteer. hailo helps you record who it is and tell the SIA.

Do children count towards 200?

Yes. Count everyone who could be in the building at the same time, including children, visitors and volunteers. Count your busiest gathering, not an ordinary week.

We hold several prayers or services in a day. Do we add them up?

No. Count the most people in the building at once. If each gathering has 150 people and the building empties in between, your number is 150.

Is a festival that happens once a year enough to bring us into scope?

It can be. A busy day that comes round every year counts, even if the rest of the year is quieter. Only a genuine one-off that you couldn't have expected, and won't happen again, doesn't.

Can a big event move our place of worship into the enhanced tier?

No. When worship is the building's main use, it stays in the standard tier however many people come, and events held there aren't qualifying events. The Home Office's guidance gives the example of a synagogue hired for a concert of 1,000 people.

We pray in a hired hall. Is that a place of worship under the law?

Not usually. The worship rule applies where worship is the building's main use. A community centre that hosts prayers is assessed as a community centre, and the people who run it are usually responsible.

Do we need to buy security equipment?

No. The standard tier doesn't ask for CCTV, bag searches, security staff or building work. It's about simple plans and the people who know them.

Read next in plain English

Guides

From the blog

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