Martyn's Law checklist: what to do, step by step

Use this checklist if 200 to 799 people can be at your venue at the same time (the standard tier). It covers what the law asks, in the order most venues do it, with the questions to answer at each step.

Nothing is required by law yet. The duties are expected to start in spring 2027, and the Home Office encourages venues to start thinking about them now. Not sure of your tier? Check your venue first.

Under each step you'll see how long it takes. The times without hailo are the Home Office's own estimates, from its impact assessment for the Act.

1. Before you start

• Count your busiest occasion. The test is the most people you'd reasonably expect in the building at the same time, not an ordinary day and not the limit on your licence. Count everyone: visitors, staff, volunteers and performers. The free busiest day calculator adds it up for you.
• Include your big events, even rare ones. The law counts your busiest times, even if they only happen now and then. If 800 or more people are ever there at once, your venue may be in the enhanced tier instead.
• Work out the building's main use. If its main use is worship, a school or childcare, it stays in the standard tier however many people come. A hall that hosts a weekly service or playgroup is still mainly a hall.
• Agree who the responsible person is. It's the person or organisation in control of the building for its main use. For most community venues that's the organisation that runs it: a committee, trustees, a club or a company.
• Remember hirers. When you hire out your building, you stay the responsible person. Our page for hirers explains what you can ask of them.
• Gather what you know about the building: a floor plan or a sketch, the rooms people use, the doors and fire exits, where people gather outside, and who holds the keys. Your fire risk assessment is a good place to start.

2. Your four plans

The law asks for four simple plans, called procedures. Write each one for your own building, in words your volunteers would use.

• Get everyone out (evacuation). How you move people out of the building, or part of it, quickly and safely. Which exits do you use, and which routes lead away from danger? Where do people go once they're out? The Home Office suggests moving people away, rather than gathering in one place as you would for a fire. Who checks every room is empty, including toilets and kitchens? Who helps anyone who can't move quickly?
• Bring everyone in (invacuation). How you bring people inside, or to a safer room, when outside is the danger. Which room is safest, away from glass? Which outside doors do you close? How do you tell people outside to come in?
• Lock down (lockdown). How you stop people getting in or out, for example by locking doors. Which doors lock, where are the keys kept, and who locks them? Where do people keep out of sight, away from doors and windows?
• Keep people informed (communication). How you tell people what's happening and what to do: stay put, or move away. How do you raise the alarm, and what words do you use? Who calls 999? How do you keep people inside updated until it's over?
• Keep private details private. Where keys are kept and where people shelter should go only to the people who need them, never on a public page or a noticeboard.
• Know what you don't need. The standard tier doesn't ask for security staff, bag searches, CCTV or new equipment, building work or a training course.

3. Telling the SIA

• Tell the Security Industry Authority (SIA), the regulator, about the venue and the responsible person, in the way it publishes before the duties start.
• Tell it again if the responsible person or other details change.
• Keep a note of when you told the SIA and what you said.

4. Briefing people

• Decide who needs to know. Everyone with a part to play: committee members and trustees, keyholders, stewards, bar staff and regular volunteers.
• Brief them on their part. What each plan means for them, in plain words: where they go, what they do and who they tell. There's no course to take.
• Brief your hirers for their booking, since on most nights they're the ones in charge. The Home Office's guidance says to explain to each hirer what's expected of them, often in your hire terms, and to be able to show the SIA that you did.
• Keep a record of who has been briefed and when. The standard tier doesn't ask for paperwork, but a record is the easiest way to show what you've done, especially for hirers.

5. Keeping it ready

• Brief new people when they join, before their first busy event.
• Brief every new hirer before their booking.
• Update the plans when the building, your people or the way you use it changes: a new exit, new keyholders, a bigger event.
• Review once a year. Not required by the Act, but the Home Office says it's good practice. Check each plan still fits the building, then brief people again on anything that's changed.

Not sure how much of this you've done? The free readiness check turns your answers into a to-do list. hailo works through this list with you and keeps the record: see how it works, look at a sample pack from a made-up club, or read what Martyn's Law is.

Sources

• Standard duty requirements factsheet, Home Office
• Overarching factsheet, Home Office
• Statutory guidance, Home Office
• Principal use of premises, Home Office
• Impact assessment, Home Office (2024): paragraph 107 for reading the guidance, 128 for planning, 129 for briefing each person and 155 for the yearly review

General information, not legal advice.