The draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill may undergo further amendments as part of the legislative process before Martyn’s Law becomes legislation. As the draft bill stands at the moment, your obligations will depend on the number of people attending your event or the capacity of your venue.
• Ensuring that relevant workers receive appropriate counter-terrorism training.
• Undertaking a terrorism evaluation to understand how best to respond in the event of a terrorist attack.
• Appointing a designated senior officer for the premises or event.
• Completing and regularly reviewing their terrorism risk assessment.
• Considering the types of terrorist act most likely to occur at or around their premises or event and the measures that might be expected to reduce the risk.
• Implementing ‘reasonably practicable’ security measures for proportionate risk mitigation.
• Keeping and maintain a security plan, which must be provided to the regulator with which the premises are registered.
Under the current proposals, regulators will have a range of sanctions to address non-compliance with Martyn’s Law, and will be able to impose penalties, including restriction notices or fines for events or premises. The penalties proposed for failing to comply with Martyn’s Law obligations could be up to £18m or 5% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. However, it’s important to note that complying with the proposed Martyn’s Law doesn’t have to be onerous or expensive, it could be as simple as carrying out a risk assessment, training your team and remaining vigilant. You can access free ACT (Action Counter Terrorism) and risk assessment templates at ProtectUK.
The goal of Martyn’s Law is to enable people to do the things they love, such as watching sport, attending outdoor events, shopping at markets and going to see their favourite bands play live music. We will all be positively affected by Martyn’s Law in the sense that it will enable us to enjoy all of those things with the confidence of knowing that our safety has been considered, with appropriate and proportionate measures in place to counter threat, vulnerability and risk.
If you operate a venue, organise events or are responsible for a publicly accessible location (PAL), you may have to comply with Martyn’s Law. Although Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill is not legislation yet, it’s important to understand that the threat is already present, so, rather than waiting for a legal obligation to mitigate risk, you can act now to prepare for Martyn’s Law.
Although the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill is not yet legislation, it is advisable to prepare now for when Martyn’s Law becomes a legal obligation. The current terror threat alert is ‘substantial’, which means that a terror attack is considered likely. It is important to consider how this threat affects the vulnerability of your event, venue or location now, and take steps to mitigate risk.
Here are some ways you can prepare for Martyn’s Law:
Martyn’s Law is not legislation yet, but the draft has now been published and there is plenty of information that will help you prepare for Martyn’s Law and implement a best practice approach. There is a lot of hearsay and conjecture about Martyn’s Law, so make sure you consult sources of information you can trust, such as:
• The draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill https://bit.ly/3nCBrOG
• The Protect UK website, which publishes the latest updates about Martyn’s Law and has lots of counter terrorism training and resources https://www.protectuk.police.uk
• The government’s Martyn’s Law fact sheet https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2022/12/19/martyns-law-factsheet
• The Manchester Arena Inquiry report https://manchesterarenainquiry.org.uk/report-volume-one
As specialists in event security, with a turnkey plan, provide, protect approach to risk assessment, specification, and deployment, we can support you as you prepare for Martyn’s Law.
