You've received an SIA notice. What it means and what to do.
Last reviewed:
A compliance notice is the SIA telling you, in writing, what it believes needs fixing and by when. At the standard tier this is a civil process, and the guidance states in as many words that non-compliance with a standard-tier compliance notice "is not a criminal offence" (figure 16). Take a breath, then work through the notice itself.
The three notice types
The Act gives the SIA three tools, used depending on what it believes isn't being met and how serious that is:
- Compliance notice. Issued where the SIA has reasonable grounds to believe a requirement isn't being met; it sets out what to fix and the period you have to fix it in, and may also require you to provide evidence that you've complied (para 9.10).
- Restriction notice. Limits how the premises can be used, or how a qualifying event can be hosted; this applies to enhanced-tier premises and qualifying events, where the SIA believes procedures or measures aren't in place and restrictions are necessary to reduce the risk of harm (para 9.11). It is not part of the standard-tier route.
- Monetary penalty notice. A financial penalty, up to £10,000 at the standard tier (para 9.14), or £5,000 specifically for failing to attend a required interview. It requires payment of a specified amount by a specified date (para 9.13). Be precise here: a penalty notice can be issued directly (para 9.12). The guidance doesn't describe an engagement-first ladder where a warning must always come before a penalty. Daily penalties, up to £500 a day, apply only to continuing non-compliance with a compliance or restriction notice that's already in place (para 9.16).
Whichever notice has landed on your desk, it will typically arrive with a landlord, duty manager, trustee or committee member who's suddenly the person responsible for the response, often without much warning that this was coming. That's a normal position to be in; the rest of this page is about what to do from here.
Your first 24 hours
- Read exactly what it specifies. Notices set out specific requirements and specific deadlines, not general impressions. Work from the document in front of you, not from what you assume it probably says.
- Diarise the deadline named in the notice, and work backwards from it.
- Map each specified failure to a fix. One line per item is enough at this stage.
- Start an evidence trail of what you're putting right and when. See what to show an SIA inspector for how to build this out properly.
Respond within whatever process the notice describes. Silence is the one reliably bad move: daily penalties attach specifically to continuing non-compliance with a notice that's already been issued (para 9.16), so ignoring it is what turns a fixable situation into an expensive one.
Is this criminal? Will this be public?
At the standard tier, no. The guidance states verbatim that non-compliance with a standard-tier compliance notice "is not a criminal offence" (figure 16). A small number of specific acts are criminal, and apply to anyone regardless of tier: knowingly or recklessly giving the SIA false information (s.25), failing to comply with an information notice, and intentionally obstructing or impersonating an inspector. Read those as "don't lie, don't stonewall", not as reasons to panic about an ordinary compliance notice. Criminal referral itself is reserved for "the most serious cases… where it is proportionate and in the public interest" (para 9.17). It isn't the standard-tier default. On publicity, the guidance doesn't set out what, if anything, is made public about individual notices, so we won't guess.
Appeals and challenging a notice
The statutory guidance confirms the Act gives rights of appeal against these notices, with the detail (the process, the deadlines, the route) left to the SIA's own operating guidance (para 9.9), which hadn't been published as we last checked this page. Until it has, the safest approach is simple: the notice itself will state your deadline and next steps, so start there, and get any deadline into your diary before you do anything else. Fixing what's specified and querying it aren't mutually exclusive.
For the numbers behind all of this in one place, see the full penalties breakdown. If you're working against a live inspection rather than a notice already in hand, see your 72-hour plan. And if none of this has happened yet and you're simply making sure it doesn't, start with the free tier checker.
Common questions
Can I be fined without a warning notice first?
In principle, yes: the SIA can issue a financial penalty directly if it's satisfied, more likely than not, that a requirement isn't being met (para 9.12). It doesn't have to try a compliance notice first. What's tied to a prior notice specifically is the daily penalty, which only applies once a compliance or restriction notice already exists and continues to be ignored (para 9.16).
Is £18m possible for my pub or village hall?
No. The £18 million, or 5% of worldwide revenue, figure applies only to enhanced-tier premises and qualifying events (para 9.15). At the standard tier the maximum is £10,000, plus up to £500 a day for continuing non-compliance (paras 9.14, 9.16).
What if I've already fixed everything the notice raised?
Respond within whatever process the notice sets out, with evidence of what you've done. See what to show an SIA inspector for how to put that evidence together.
Does receiving a notice mean an inspection went badly?
Not necessarily. It means the SIA has reasonable grounds to believe a requirement isn't being met, which can follow an inspection or other information it holds. See what happens if the SIA inspects your venue for the fuller process.
About this guide. Written by the Martyn's Law Plan team, based on the statutory guidance published under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025. Last reviewed: . Read the official guidance on GOV.UK.
Sources: Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025; Home Office statutory guidance (April 2026, updated May 2026) and supplementary documents. Paragraph references are to the statutory guidance. General information, not legal advice. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.