Martyn's Law - top tips and support to help schools prepare

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act, known as Martyn’s Law received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 and is now law. But what exactly does this mean for schools? Read on for tips and advice to help you get started and prepare to embed good security practices across your setting.

How does Martyn's Law impact my school?

The Act will require those responsible for certain premises and events to take steps to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack and reduce harm in the event of an attack occuring. It will affect education settings - Early Years, primary, secondary and further education settings are considered to be 'standard tier' duty premises under the Act.

What is the time frame?

Settings in scope will have time to prepare prior to the setup of the regulator, the Security Industry Authority (SIA). This period is expected to be approximately 24 months. So you will not be required to take immediate action until the Act enters into force but should plan and prepare for Martyn’s Law requirements.

What do I need to do now?

Settings must appoint a ‘responsible person’ to ensure that the requirements are satisfied. The responsible person is the person who has control of the premises - you know your setting best and will be best placed to appoint the right person for this role. This is not necessarily a headteacher and could be someone who is already responsible for existing safeguarding health and safety protocols. You can find further detail on the Home Office fact sheet: Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill 2024: factsheets - GOV.UK

The role of the 'responsible' person in the standard tier will be to:

• Notify the regulator (SIA)
• Put in place ‘reasonably practicable’ public protection procedures
• Focus on simple, low-cost activities surrounding policies and procedure which are to be followed by staff in the event of a terrorist attack or suspected terrorist attack occurring.
• There is no requirement to put in place physical measures in this tier.

Help and support:

We appreciate you will have several questions and schools may be approached by companies charging for their expertise in this area. Please note that the DfE and Home Office do not endorse any third-party products of providers. Together with the regulator, they will be publishing further guidance and resources to support you very soon. Meanwhile, here are some existing resources freely available in the interim:

• Staff e-Learning - consider integrating the ACT for Education e-learning to your setting’s learning management system as part of staff training. You will need to contact them via DFE.PROTECTANDPREPARE@education.gov.uk, with the subject line “SCORM”. 
• The Home Office’s Martyn’s Law Factsheet and Toolkit 
• Protective Security and Preparedness Guidance for education settings
• The DfE  in partnership with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) will also be hosting a series of free webinars in July - please click on the link below to sign up for these excellent sessions:

Protective Preparedness For Education Settings Webinar

Monday 7^th July 2025 - 12:00 – 13:00

Wednesday 16^th July 2025 - 12:00 - 13:00

Wednesday 23^rd July 2025 - 12:00 – 13:00

Prevent duty updates:

As you prepare for the next academic year, you may also wish to review any training to identify knowledge gaps and revisit your Prevent risk-assessment which is a statutory requirement. Find out about our free Prevent Safeguarding Training which has just been updated, risk-assessment workshop and our Staff Prevent Quiz which you can get all staff to complete at prevent.lgfl.net