Martyn's Law for churches, mosques, gurdwaras, temples and synagogues

The test is how many people you'd reasonably expect at the same time, from time to time, including your welcome team, clergy, staff and volunteers. Think about your busiest occasions, not a normal week:

• Major festivals: Christmas and Easter, Eid and Friday prayers, Diwali, Vaisakhi, the High Holy Days.
• Weddings, funerals and community events.
• Overflow use of halls and rooms on busy days.

If those occasions regularly bring 200 or more, you're in scope. Write down how you reached your figure.

The standard-tier-at-any-size rule is for premises used for communal worship or other communal religious practice. Some situations are less clear-cut, and are worth getting advice on:

• Buildings that aren't mainly used for worship, such as a café, nursery or venue that also hosts services.
• Church halls, community rooms or centres on the same site, which may be judged on their own use.
• Large ticketed events held in the building, such as concerts or paid entry for visitors.

The duties fall on whoever has control of the premises, for example the trustees or the body that manages the building. Who that is can depend on how your building is owned and run, so check with your denomination or umbrella body if you're unsure. You'll notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA) of the responsible person within three months of the law starting, once its online service opens.

The standard tier needs four procedures, in place so far as is reasonably practicable:

• Evacuation: list every exit. In an attack, the person leading picks the exit away from the danger, and people keep moving rather than gathering at the usual fire assembly point.
• Invacuation: bringing people in from courtyards, car parks and crowds outside after a service, and keeping them away from glass.
• Lockdown: which doors your stewards secure, which rooms people can shelter in, and a signal that's different from the fire alarm.
• Communication: who calls 999, how you tell a full congregation calmly (in every language they speak), and how you reach people outside.

Plan for the people you actually welcome: children in separate rooms during services, older or disabled worshippers, and visitors who don't know the building.

Stewards, sidespeople, welcome teams and security volunteers are the people who'd carry out the procedures. They need to know them. A short briefing based on the national Run, Hide, Tell advice, with a record of who has read it, is the simplest way to show you've done this. Free ProtectUK courses such as ACT Awareness are a good extra for whoever leads.

Martyn's Law became law on 3 April 2025. The start date isn't set yet and is expected from spring 2027 at the earliest. The SIA expects to start with advice and support; for standard tier premises the maximum penalty is £10,000.

See the standard tier checklist for everything in one place.