Who does Martyn's Law apply to?
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A premises is in scope of Martyn's Law if it meets four conditions: there is a building, that building is used for one of the Act's 17 listed activities, the public can get in, and 200 or more people, including staff, could reasonably be there at the same time. Meet all four and the standard tier applies from commencement, expected spring 2027.
The four conditions, one at a time
There has to be a building
The site must be a building, or a building and other land it's used with, such as a pub's beer garden or a stately home's grounds. Part of a building can qualify on its own too, such as a shop inside a factory that's otherwise not in scope. There is no rule about what the building is made of or how big it is (para 4.7). Open land with no building on it at all, such as an open-air tourist attraction, doesn't meet this test regardless of how many people visit.
It has to be used for one of the Act's listed activities
The building has to be wholly or mainly used for one of 17 categories set out in Schedule 1 to the Act, covered in full below. Some buildings have more than one use; what matters is the main one. A school that also hosts community evening classes is still assessed as a school.
The public has to be able to get in
Restricting entry to people who've paid, hold a ticket, or are a member or guest of a club does not make a premises private. A members' golf club or a subscription gym is treated the same as anywhere else the public can enter (para 4.7).
200 or more people, including staff, from time to time
The number that matters is your realistic busiest occasion, not your average day and not your fire safety certificate. It includes everyone who could reasonably be there at once: visitors, staff, volunteers and contractors. "From time to time" covers occasions that recur, such as an annual festival, even if most days are much quieter; see the annual festival trap if that's your situation.
The 17 Schedule 1 categories in full
This is the complete list from the statutory guidance, with the official examples for each. If your premises is mainly used for one of these, the first two conditions above are met.
| Schedule 1 use | Premises this can include |
|---|---|
| Shops etc | Shops, retail units, showrooms, post offices, banks, fuel stations and shopping centres. |
| Food and drink | Bars, pubs, restaurants, cafés and food halls. |
| Entertainment and leisure activities | Nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, concert halls, arenas, theme parks, zoos, aquariums, amusement arcades, casinos, gyms, leisure centres, swimming pools and bowling alleys. |
| Sports grounds | Arenas or stadia where sport or other competitive activity takes place in the open air, with accommodation provided for spectators. |
| Libraries, museums and galleries etc | Libraries, museums and galleries, plus archives or sites exhibiting a collection outdoors or partly outdoors. |
| Halls etc | Village halls, community centres, venues for hire, exhibition halls and conference centres. |
| Visitor attractions | Any attraction of cultural, historic, touristic or educational value, which can include heritage railway lines. |
| Hotels etc | Hotels, hostels and holiday parks. |
| Places of worship | Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, gurdwaras, cathedrals and other places of worship, always standard tier regardless of size (para 4.28). |
| Health care | Hospitals, primary care clinics, and doctor and dentist surgeries. |
| Bus stations, railway stations etc | Railway, bus, coach and tramway stations forming part of a guided transport system. |
| Aerodromes | Facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft, though many are excluded, including those used exclusively for military purposes. |
| Childcare | Day cares, pre-schools and nurseries. |
| Primary and secondary education | Schools for children under 16, including alternative provision academies and pupil referral units. |
| Further education | Colleges and sixth-form colleges, and publicly funded independent training providers, for those over compulsory school age who haven't yet turned 19. |
| Higher education | Universities and associated institutions, and student accommodation managed by or for a higher education institution. |
| Public authorities | Premises used by a public authority to provide facilities or services to the public, including household waste recycling centres. |
Places of worship and childcare, primary, secondary and further education settings share one important exception: they're always standard tier, however large they get. Only higher education can move up to the enhanced tier.
What's excluded
Schedule 2 to the Act excludes a short list of premises regardless of numbers: Parliament and the devolved legislatures; parks, gardens and other open-air premises used for recreation or leisure, but only while access is genuinely uncontrolled; and transport premises already covered by other security legislation. The open-air exclusion is easy to lose: a club that checks membership or tickets at the gate no longer counts as uncontrolled access, so its grounds need to be assessed like anywhere else.
Special cases worth knowing about
A few situations don't fit neatly into a single answer. Premises with more than one use, such as a hotel with a conference centre and a restaurant, are assessed by their principal use. Smaller premises inside larger ones, such as a unit inside a shopping centre, can be in scope in their own right even where the centre as a whole is assessed separately. Ticketed or members-only events held away from your normal premises have their own separate test. And outdoor spaces attached to a building, like a stately home's grounds or a sports ground's pitches, are treated differently depending on how tightly access is controlled.
Does this apply across the UK?
Yes. Martyn's Law applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (para 1.3). The scope test, the thresholds and the duties are the same in all four nations.
Working out your own answer
Reading the conditions is the easy part; applying them to your own building is where most people get stuck. Our free tier checker walks through the same test in about two minutes and gives you a printable record of your assessment, no email required.
If you already know your venue type, our guides go into more detail for pubs and bars, village halls, churches and places of worship, golf and sports clubs and gyms and leisure centres.
Frequently asked questions
Does Martyn's Law apply to my business?
It depends on four things: whether you have a building, whether that building is used for one of the Act's 17 listed activities, whether the public can get in, and whether 200 or more people, including staff, could reasonably be there at once. If all four are true, you're in scope. Our free checker asks these questions directly and gives you a straight answer in about two minutes.
Does Martyn's Law apply to offices?
Usually not. A standard office isn't one of the Schedule 1 uses, so it falls outside the Act regardless of how many staff it holds. Shared office buildings with public-facing uses, such as a ground-floor café or an events space open to outsiders, may still bring those specific parts into scope.
Does Martyn's Law apply to universities?
Higher education is treated differently from schools. University buildings are assessed like any other premises and can reach the enhanced tier if 800 or more people are reasonably expected at once. Schools, colleges up to 19, and childcare settings, by contrast, always stay in the standard tier regardless of numbers.
What if my venue type isn't on the list?
Check which of the 17 categories best describes what the premises is mainly used for; most venues fit clearly into one. If you're still unsure, our checker walks through the same test the guidance uses, and our venue guides cover pubs, village halls, churches, gyms and golf and sports clubs in detail.
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.