What does the standard tier of Martyn's Law actually require?

That is not what the guidance says. The standard tier duty, in section 5 of the Act, is to have public protection procedures in place.

The guidance describes the procedures chapter as working out what is appropriate for your venue (§7.20–7.26). It names four kinds of procedure: evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication. Evacuation is getting people out. Invacuation is moving people inside to a safer place. Lockdown is securing the building to stop people getting in. Communication is telling people what is happening. Nowhere in that chapter is a risk assessment named as a document you have to produce.

The word "assessment" does appear in the guidance, but for the enhanced tier (the higher of the two tiers). Section 7 of the Act requires enhanced tier premises and qualifying events (certain large public events) to prepare a document. That document includes an assessment of how their procedures and measures reduce risk (§8.57). It is an enhanced tier duty, and it does not reach down to the standard tier.

Thinking carefully about what could happen at your venue is clearly sensible. It is how you decide which procedures are appropriate. But someone may tell you the law makes a standard tier venue pay for, or carry out, a "terrorism risk assessment". If so, ask them for the paragraph. There is not one.

True in law, not in force yet, and there is nothing to do today. The Act does contain a notification duty (a duty to tell the SIA who you are). The regulations that set out what has to be notified were made on 9 July 2026.

The guidance's own position is that the Secretary of State (the government minister in charge) sets the timescales and the information required, by regulations (§7.64). What does not exist yet is a way to do it. The SIA's notification portal (the website for telling the SIA) is not open. The notification requirement comes into force only when the relevant section of the Act does.

So the honest version of this claim has three parts. A notification requirement exists in law. The SIA's portal is not open yet. You do not need to notify until the law comes into force. Anyone offering to "register you with the SIA" today is offering something that cannot be done at the moment.

Not for the standard tier. The document that goes to the SIA is the section 7 document. Section 7(2) applies only to the responsible person (the person or organisation in control of the venue) for enhanced tier premises or qualifying events (§8.57). That document has to be given to the SIA, and given again within 30 days of any revision (§8.60). A standard tier venue has no statement to write and nothing to submit.

What the guidance says about writing things down at the standard tier is worth reading in full, because people often misquote it:

"Within the standard tier requirements, there is no legal requirement to prepare a document stating the procedures in place and an assessment of how they may be expected to reduce the risk of physical harm if an act of terrorism were to occur. However, the responsible person should prepare a document like this to provide a basis for ensuring the procedures can be effectively understood and communicated to staff. It may also be difficult to demonstrate compliance with the Act, for example in the event of an inspection by the SIA, if the procedures are not documented in some form. Templates will be developed which are optional and indicative." (§7.32)

Read that with §7.1's must and should rule beside it. "No legal requirement" is the law. "Should prepare" is a strong recommendation.

The Home Office is also promising free templates. It has said publicly that no third-party product is endorsed by it or by the SIA. Writing your procedures down is a good idea, for exactly the reasons the paragraph gives. It is not a submission.

The Act is not in force yet, and no commencement date has been set. (Commencement is when its duties start to apply.) What the Home Office has said, on GOV.UK, is that it expects the Act to come into force in spring 2027. It will confirm the exact date ahead of time. That is an official expectation, from the government, and it is the most anyone can honestly say.

The specific month you see repeated online is a reading of an earlier Home Office statement. That statement said implementation would take at least 24 months from April 2025. The month is commentary, not a commencement order (the legal step that fixes the date).

There is a second, quieter mistake in the idea that everything lands on one date. The section 5 duty is an ongoing one. Nothing falls due on commencement day, and nothing runs out after it. What changes on that day is that the duty can be enforced. By then, your procedures either exist and work, or they do not.

None of those is a standard tier requirement. The guidance is clear that you can use your existing doors, locks, shutters and barriers for a lockdown. It also says there is no requirement to buy specific equipment (§7.25).

Public protection measures are the part of the Act about monitoring, movement control (managing how people move in, out and around the venue), physical security and information security. They are in section 6, and section 6 applies to the enhanced tier only (§6.8). A supplier may tell you the standard tier needs a physical security upgrade. If so, they are describing the enhanced tier, or nothing in the Act at all.

Consultants are in the same position. The guidance is written so that the person who runs the venue can do this work themselves. There is no duty to buy advice. The free official material on ProtectUK and GOV.UK is the main source for everything on this page.