What happens if the SIA inspects your venue
Last reviewed:
SIA inspections under Martyn's Law usually come with at least 72 hours' written notice, not an unannounced knock on the door. Inspectors can view your documents, physical and electronic, and ask staff to explain the procedures and their role in them. Here's what the power actually covers, what a standard-tier venue should be able to show, and what happens if things aren't perfect.
The notice you'll get
Inspections will usually come with at least 72 hours' written notice. No-notice entry is not how the process is designed to work day to day; it's reserved for limited, urgent circumstances, and generally requires a warrant. If you hear that SIA inspectors turn up unannounced as standard practice, that's not an accurate description of the process the guidance sets out.
What inspectors can actually do
- Enter the premises and observe.
- View documents, including electronic ones, and take copies.
- Require any person present to assist them, which includes asking staff to explain your procedures and their specific role.
That last power is worth sitting with: it means a briefed member of staff who can explain what they'd do, even without a perfect written document, is genuinely valuable. It also means a beautifully written plan nobody on the floor has ever seen doesn't fully protect you either. See our training guide for what a useful briefing looks like.
What a standard-tier venue should be able to show and explain
In practice, being ready for an inspection comes down to four things:
- Who your responsible person is, and on what basis they're in control. See who the responsible person is.
- How you worked out your capacity basis, and why it puts you where it does. See how to count your capacity.
- Your four procedures: evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, communication, and roughly how each would run at your premises.
- Evidence that people with a role in those procedures actually know it, not just that a document exists somewhere.
None of this legally has to be written down. But the guidance's own reasoning is that demonstrating compliance is harder without something documented, and an inspection is exactly the moment that becomes concrete rather than theoretical.
An inspection, walked through
A realistic version looks calm and procedural, not dramatic. A letter or email arrives naming a date at least 72 hours out. The responsible person, or whoever they've delegated the task to, has the capacity basis and procedures document ready, whether that's our service's output or a hand-written couple of pages. On the day, the inspector reviews the document, asks a few questions, may ask a staff member on shift to talk through what they'd do in an evacuation, and that's largely it. Nothing about the process the guidance describes suggests theatre or confrontation; it's a compliance check, conducted like one.
What inspectors can't do
There are no on-the-spot fines in the process the guidance describes; any penalty arrives through a formal written process with deadlines, not on the day. Be precise about what that does and doesn't mean, though: a monetary penalty doesn't legally have to be preceded by a compliance notice. The SIA can issue one directly if it's satisfied a requirement isn't being met (para 9.12). What's specifically tied to an existing notice is the daily penalty, up to £500 a day, which only applies to continuing non-compliance with a compliance or restriction notice already in place (para 9.16). A warning first is the expected route, not a guarantee. See the full penalties breakdown for detail. Inspectors also can't require you to buy anything: using a third-party product or service is never mandatory to comply with the Act's requirements (para 6.7).
Getting ready before you need to
The most useful thing you can do is treat inspection-readiness as the natural output of doing the basics properly, not a separate project. Confirm your tier with the free checker, write your procedures down using our free template, and make sure the people who'd actually respond know their part.
Common questions
How much warning do you get before an SIA inspection?
Usually at least 72 hours' written notice. No-notice entry is the exception, not the norm, and generally requires a warrant, reserved for limited urgent circumstances rather than routine checks.
Can inspectors question my staff?
Yes. An inspector can require any person present to assist them, which includes asking staff to explain the procedures and their role in them. This is exactly why briefing staff, not just writing a document, matters: the guidance can test what people actually know, not only what's on paper.
What if I'm not fully ready when an inspection happens?
There are no on-the-spot fines in the process the guidance describes, and standard-tier non-compliance with a compliance notice is not a criminal offence (figure 16). Be precise, though: the SIA can issue a financial penalty directly if it's satisfied a requirement isn't being met (para 9.12). It isn't obliged to try a notice first, so a warning isn't guaranteed. Being under-prepared is a reason to get moving now, not a reason to panic about a single inspection.
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.