Does Martyn's Law apply to our village hall?

The test is how many people you'd reasonably expect to be on the premises at the same time, from time to time. It counts everyone: visitors, performers, staff and volunteers. Your fire safety capacity is a useful upper limit, but it isn't the answer on its own.

The Home Office guidance gives the example of a hall with a safe occupancy of 250, whose attendance records showed no more than 150 people at any one time over five years. That hall is out of scope.

Things that help you decide:

• Your busiest regular events: the annual show, wedding receptions, dances, quiz nights, polling days.
• Booking records, ticket sales and head counts from past events.
• Whether big events happen regularly or are a genuine one-off. An unexpected one-off doesn't necessarily bring a hall into scope, but a repeated event can.

Write down how you reached your figure. If anyone asks, that reasoning is what they'll want to see.

The duties fall on whoever has control of the premises. For most halls that's the body that runs the hall, such as the charity or its management committee. It isn't a volunteer you nominate, and the duty can't be handed to someone else.

You'll need to tell the Security Industry Authority (SIA) who the responsible person is, within three months of the law starting, and report changes within 28 days. The SIA's online service isn't open yet.

You need procedures that your volunteers could follow if there were an attack, so far as is reasonably practicable. The law names four:

• Evacuation: getting people out, away from the danger. In an attack this can differ from a fire drill, so don't assume everyone gathers at the fire assembly point.
• Invacuation: bringing people inside when the danger is outside.
• Lockdown: securing the building and keeping people out of sight.
• Communication: raising the alarm, telling people what to do and calling 999.

At the standard tier the procedures don't legally have to be written down, but a short written version is the easiest way to brief people and to show what you've done. A plan nobody has seen isn't enough: the people who'd carry it out need to know it. You don't need to buy equipment, make building changes or pay for training.

On most evenings it's the hirer's people in the building, not the committee. Make sure hirers know and follow your procedures:

• Ask each hirer to name a lead for their event, read your procedures briefing and brief their own helpers. A clause in your hire agreement is the simplest way.
• Show them where the keys are, which rooms lock and how the lockdown signal works.
• Take extra care with bookings of 200 or more. If those are what put your hall in scope, they're where the procedures matter most.

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. There's nothing you must do before then, but getting ready now is far less stressful.

The SIA will regulate it and expects to start with advice and support. For standard tier premises the maximum penalty is £10,000.