Martyn's Law for schools, nurseries and education settings
Last reviewed:
If you run a school, nursery or further education setting, Martyn's Law applies to you regardless of size. This guide covers what the law actually expects of a setting like yours, who's responsible for meeting it, and the one important way higher education is treated differently.
The two tiers, and the education override
Before working out what applies to your setting, it helps to understand how the law categorises premises and what those categories demand. Martyn's Law places most public premises into two main tiers based strictly on maximum expected headcount, including pupils, staff and visitors.
Standard tier (200–799 people)
- What it means: focuses on simple, low-cost preparedness.
- Key requirement: you must notify the regulator and maintain basic procedures for four emergency responses (evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication).
- Implications: no mandatory paid training, expensive security upgrades, or heavy documentation are required.
Enhanced tier (800+ people)
- What it means: for most premises types, asks more of high-capacity venues, because of the larger potential impact of an incident.
- Key requirement: includes all standard tier duties, plus formal requirements like a documented vulnerability assessment, a designated senior responsible individual, and measures designed to reduce the premises' vulnerability.
Childcare, primary, secondary and further education are the exception to all of this: they cannot reach the enhanced tier, however many pupils, staff or visitors are on site. That's a deliberate override in the Act, not an oversight. Higher education is different, and can reach the enhanced tier, covered below.
How to tell if your school or education setting needs a plan for Martyn's Law
Childcare, primary, secondary and further education are Schedule 1 categories in their own right, and the Act treats them as always standard tier, whatever their actual numbers, rather than applying the usual 200/800 threshold test.
Because the override applies regardless of size, working out exact numbers matters less here than it does for other premises types, the tier is fixed either way. It's still sensible to have a rough sense of pupils, staff and visitors at a typical busy point, since that shapes what your procedures actually need to cover, even though it doesn't change which tier you're in.
Below are some examples to help illustrate this:
- School A (large school, still standard tier). A secondary school of 2,000 pupils and staff, comfortably over 800 on numbers alone, still only carries the standard tier's two duties, because education settings never move up regardless of size.
- School B (small nursery, same tier as the large school). A nursery of 30 children and staff carries exactly the same tier of duties as the 2,000-pupil secondary above, because size doesn't change which tier applies here.
- School C (higher education exception). A university with lecture theatres, libraries and open campus events genuinely expecting 800 or more at once can reach the enhanced tier, restoring the normal numbers-based tiering that applies everywhere else, because higher-education premises are usually freely accessible to the public in a way schools generally aren't.
To double check whether your setting comes under the scope of Martyn's Law, use our free checker.
Who is the "responsible person"?
Someone has to be legally on the hook for getting this done. The law calls that person the responsible person. For a maintained school, this typically sits with the local authority or the school's governing body, depending on how control is actually exercised locally. For an academy, it's the academy trust, as the body in control of the premises.
Where a school hall or hired space is let out to external groups in the evenings, control can shift to the hirer for that booking, in the same way it does for a village hall, worth a quick check of your lettings agreement rather than assuming either way.
See who the responsible person is for the full control test.
What you must do (standard tier)
If you're in the standard tier, which every school, nursery and further education setting is, compliance requires two primary actions:
- Register your setting with the Security Industry Authority
(SIA), the law's regulator.
- This is a simple registration, not an application process.
- There's no fee and no approval process to wait for. The SIA portal isn't open yet, so no action is required until it launches.
- Prepare four core emergency procedures. You must
establish basic, practical procedures for four scenarios:
- Evacuation. Getting people out of the building safely.
- Invacuation. Moving people to safe spaces inside the building.
- Lockdown. Securing doors to keep an external threat out.
- Communication. Quickly telling staff and pupils what to do.
School note: we deliberately keep this page general rather than trying to out-detail organisations that specialise in day-to-day school operations. Most schools already have a strong safeguarding and lockdown culture to build from, but that's a starting point, not a substitute: a terrorism-specific procedure still needs to exist on top of it, not be assumed to already be covered by it. The Department for Education has published its own policy material specifically on how Martyn's Law affects education settings, worth reading directly for anything touching lockdown drills or safeguarding overlap.
What you do not have to do (standard tier)
A lot of the worry around Martyn's Law comes from assuming it means extra security staff, an expensive consultant, or mandatory training courses on top of existing safeguarding practice. None of that is required at the standard tier.
- You do not need a written plan by law, though the guidance recommends one, since it's hard to demonstrate compliance without it (para 7.32). See what para 7.32 actually says.
- You do not need to hire security staff or install CCTV. See what Martyn's Law actually requires on security kit.
- You do not need paid or accredited training; using a third-party product or service is never mandatory (para 6.7).
- You do not need a fixed review schedule; periodic review is good practice, not a legal requirement.
- You do not need a risk assessment document or a designated senior individual, except where a higher-education site reaches the enhanced tier.
How to get Martyn's Law ready in minutes
Every duty above can be worked out and written down by hand, for free. It's perfectly possible, and we'd rather tell you that straight than fear-monger you into hiring a consultant or buying a tool you don't need.
What's worth getting right for a school is a procedure that fits the reality of a large, evolving site with a well-established safeguarding culture already, not a bolt-on security document that duplicates or contradicts existing practice.
That's what Martyn's Law Plan was built to solve. It's a short questionnaire that turns your answers into a plan written around your actual site and existing procedures, rather than a generic template. Above all, it gives you peace of mind that you're prepared for when an inspection comes.
For now, start with the free tier checker, no email required, to confirm where you stand.
Similar venues: churches and places of worship and community centres.
Common questions
Are schools exempt from Martyn's Law?
No. Schools are not exempt, they're always standard tier, regardless of pupil numbers. That's a deliberate override in the Act, not an oversight, and it's worth being precise about the difference between "exempt" and "always standard tier": the duties still apply, they just don't escalate to enhanced tier.
Do nurseries and early years settings have to comply?
Yes, childcare settings are covered in the same way as schools, always standard tier regardless of size. The two duties, notification and the four procedures, apply, scaled to what's reasonably practicable for a nursery's size and layout.
Can a university be enhanced tier?
Yes, higher education is the one education category that can reach enhanced tier if it genuinely expects 800 or more at once. The guidance's own reasoning is that parts of higher-education premises are usually freely accessible to members of the public in a way schools generally aren't, lecture theatres, libraries, campus events, so the numbers-based tiering that applies everywhere else is restored for higher education specifically.
Does a school fair or open evening change anything?
It's worth thinking through separately if it draws in a different, larger, more public crowd than a normal school day, parents, siblings, local community, since that changes who's actually on site and how well you know them. It doesn't change the school's always-standard-tier status either way, but it's a sensible moment to check your communication and lockdown procedures still make sense for a bigger, less familiar crowd.
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.