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Feature
‘Martyn’s Law’: Planning For Stadia Success By Stephen O’Connell, Commercial Manager, Netgenium
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly known as ‘Martyn's Law’, received Royal Assent on 3rd April 2025. The legislation intends to improve safety in stadia if a terrorist attack strikes and organisations currently have a minimum 24-month implementation period, expected to run until around April 2027, to prepare for compliance.
Government analysis indicates that well over 150,000 or
more public-facing venues across the UK, are expected to be covered by the law. Other estimates place this figure even higher at 250,000.
It’s widely acknowledged that ‘Martyn’s Law’ aims to strike a balance between public safety and the burden on premises. As with most legislative reform however, there are mixed views on whether it goes far enough. It introduces a tiered approach, requiring different security measures based on stadia capacity, with many people pointing to improved preparedness and victims' families seeing it as a huge step forward. What’s also widely recognised is that for smaller venues, there will be some concerns and potential implementation challenges. This all highlights the need for clear guidance and central government backing.
The law sets out different requirements for Standard Tier premises, which would have a capacity of 200 - 799 individuals, and Enhanced Tier premises and qualifying public events, both of which have a capacity of 800 individuals or more. The requirements for Standard Tier premises are intended to follow the established concept of being appropriate and reasonably
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practicable. The objective of the requirements is to implement simple procedures that could reduce harm and save lives in an attack. It's important to note at this stage that official guidance on implementation and compliance is still to be published and is expected during the 24-month transition period.
While the new law is fairly broad in its reach, understanding and planning for emergency protocols, lockdown for internal threats, evacuation for incidents requiring stadia clearance and an emergency procedure that moves people to a secure, sheltered area inside a building when a threat is outside and it is safer to remain inside than evacuate the premises (an invacuation for external threats), is vital for developing an effective critical incident response plan that aligns with ‘Martyn’s Law’ and fulfils safeguarding responsibilities.
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