KEY POINTS
- Village halls, community centres and other venues for hire are covered if 200 or more people, including volunteers and hirers' helpers, can reasonably be expected at once, from time to time.
- Your fire safety occupancy figure is not the test. What matters is how many people you can realistically expect at your busiest predictable events.
- The management committee or trustees usually remain the responsible person when the hall is hired out. Hirers do not take over the legal duty.
- The one exception is a qualifying event of 800 or more, where a hirer in control of the hall becomes responsible for that event.
- Compliance can be low cost: written procedures, a briefing for volunteers, clear hire terms and a simple record. Paid training is not required.
The short answer
Martyn's Law, the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, lists "halls etc." as one of the uses it covers. The Home Office statutory guidance says this includes village halls, community centres and venues for hire. A hall is in scope if it can reasonably expect 200 or more people to be present at the same time, from time to time. If it never realistically reaches 200, the Act does not apply.
A hall that is in scope will almost always be standard tier. That means two legal duties: notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA), and have appropriate procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication, so far as reasonably practicable. You do not need to buy equipment, install barriers or employ security staff. The duties are expected to start in spring 2027.
The statutory guidance uses village halls in several of its own examples, and the message running through them is reassuring: the Act is meant to be workable for volunteer-run buildings.
Is your hall in scope?
The test is the greatest number of people you can reasonably expect at the same time, from time to time. "From time to time" means occasionally but predictably, so think about your busiest regular events: the annual pantomime, a monthly dance, a popular quiz night or a Christmas market.
Your count must include everyone there in connection with the use of the hall, not just the audience. That means committee members on duty, volunteers running the bar or kitchen, performers, stallholders and the hirer's own helpers. The guidance defines staff as including volunteers.
A fire risk assessment occupancy figure is useful as a ceiling, but it is not the answer. The guidance gives the example of a village hall with a safe occupancy of 250 whose records show no more than 150 people at once in five years. It is out of scope. When a local band with chart success hires it for a concert of 250, the hall stays out of scope, because the concert was unforeseen and not expected to be repeated. If the band starts playing regularly and 200 or more becomes a reasonable expectation, the hall comes into the standard tier.
| Illustrative hall | Likely position |
|---|---|
| Safe occupancy 180, busiest event about 140 | Out of scope. It cannot reach 200. |
| Safe occupancy 300, regular events of 60 to 120, annual panto of about 230 including cast and volunteers | In scope, standard tier. The panto is predictable and repeats. |
| Safe occupancy 400, used for weekly clubs, one wedding a year of about 180 | Out of scope on these figures. Review if bookings change. |
| Community centre regularly used for markets and religious overspill of 250 or more | In scope, standard tier. The guidance gives a very similar example. |
Keep a note of how you reached your figure. The SIA can ask, and a short record of past attendance, ticket numbers or booking sizes is good evidence. Our guide on how to calculate capacity sets out the methods, and the free tier checker gives a quick first answer.
Who is responsible: the committee or the hirer?
The responsible person is whoever has control of the premises for their use as a hall. For most village and community halls, that is the management committee or board of trustees, acting for the charity or organisation that runs the hall. Ownership does not decide it. A committee that runs a hall on a lease or licence from a parish council, for example, may well be the one in control.
When you hire the hall out, you remain responsible. The guidance says plainly that when qualifying premises are hired out, the responsible person stays the same and keeps oversight of the requirements. You can, and should, ask hirers to play their part. The guidance compares this to the way hire agreements already handle fire safety and health and safety.
There is one exception. If a hirer puts on an event that meets all the criteria for a qualifying event, including 800 or more people expected at once and tickets or other entry checks, and the hirer takes control of the hall for that event, the hirer becomes the responsible person for the event. The guidance gives exactly this example: a private company hiring a standard tier village hall for a one-off ticketed fundraiser of 800. The company must meet the enhanced duties for the event, including notifying the SIA and preparing a compliance document, and must co-ordinate with the committee, which stays responsible for the hall outside the event. Very few village halls will ever see this, but it is worth knowing.
At the standard tier, the maximum penalty is £10,000. The Act's designated senior individual requirement applies only to enhanced tier premises and qualifying events, so a standard tier hall committee does not need to appoint one. Our guide on who the responsible person is explains the control test in more depth.
What to put in your hire agreement
The guidance says that if the SIA asks, you must be able to show you clearly set out your requirements to the hirer and took reasonable steps to make sure they were followed. Your hire agreement is the natural place to do that. A short clause and a one-page information sheet are usually enough.
| The committee should | The hirer should |
|---|---|
| Provide a one-page summary of the hall's evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication procedures | Read it and confirm in writing that they have |
| Show the hirer where exits, the safer room and door locks are, or provide a plan | Name a lead person who will be present throughout and take charge in an emergency |
| Give an out-of-hours contact for the committee | Brief their own helpers, stewards and performers before the event |
| Keep a copy of the signed agreement and any briefing | Tell the committee if expected numbers change significantly |
For regular hirers, such as a weekly dance class, one briefing at the start and a reminder each year is proportionate. For larger one-off events, a short pre-event conversation is worth the time. Our packs include a ready-made hirer information sheet and hire clause wording you can adapt.
Simple procedures volunteers can run
Your procedures should be things the people on duty can actually do, quickly, without special equipment. Here is a low-cost starting point for a typical hall.
- Evacuation: identify at least two routes out and agree that, in a suspected attack, people should be told to move well away and disperse, not gather at the fire assembly point. The statutory guidance makes this point using the example of a church.
- Invacuation: choose a safer room inside, ideally away from the entrance and street-facing windows, with a door that closes. A back kitchen, committee room or storeroom often works.
- Lockdown: list which external doors can be locked or secured from inside, who holds keys during events, and how long it takes. Do not forget fire exits that are often propped open in summer.
- Communication: decide how you will alert everyone, for example a clear spoken phrase from the stage or a whistle followed by instructions, and how you will call 999. Keep a committee WhatsApp group or phone tree for alerting key holders.
- Put a laminated action card by each main door and in the kitchen, setting out the four procedures in a few lines each.
- Keep a small grab bag or folder with a floor plan, key holder numbers and a list of who is on duty.
The guidance includes a useful village hall example. Volunteers notice a strong unusual smell and people start coughing. The senior volunteer on duty first moves people away from entrances and closes internal doors, then, on advice from the emergency services, evacuates by a rear exit. The point is not to follow a script rigidly but to have options ready and someone who feels able to choose between them. Our guides to evacuation, invacuation and lockdown go into each option.
Training volunteers without spending money
There is no statutory requirement for formal counter-terrorism training. The guidance does say the people who will carry out procedures must know what they are and what their role is, and that all staff should be alert to suspicious items and behaviour and know how to report concerns.
The guidance gives another village hall example that is almost a template. The responsible person adds a short explanation of the lockdown procedure to every new volunteer's induction, given by a senior volunteer, and puts the written procedure on the staff room wall. They see a course advertised online costing thousands of pounds that claims to make attendees compliant, and decide it is not necessary in their circumstances. The guidance says paid third-party training is not mandatory.
Free resources include ProtectUK's ACT Awareness e-learning and ProtectUK action cards. A short run-through at a committee meeting once a year, and a note of who attended, is a sensible habit. See our guide to free training and resources.
Records, review and common mistakes
Writing your procedures down is not a legal requirement at the standard tier, but the guidance says the responsible person should do it, and that it may be difficult to show compliance without a record. Keep a simple file with your capacity reasoning, your procedures, your hire clause, briefing records and the date of each review. Review it once a year and whenever the hall or its use changes.
Mistakes we expect to see:
- Assuming a fire occupancy figure of 200 or more automatically puts the hall in scope, or that a lower figure keeps it out when real events are bigger.
- Leaving volunteers, performers and stallholders out of the headcount.
- Thinking the hirer is responsible because they have exclusive use for the evening.
- Writing a plan nobody has read. A plan only works if the people on duty know it.
- Buying expensive training or security equipment the Act does not require.
- Forgetting to notify the SIA once the duty is in force.
What to do next
Start with your numbers: list your busiest regular events and estimate the peak headcount, including volunteers. If you are under 200, record why and review it each year. If you are over, agree at the next committee meeting who will draft the procedures and update the hire agreement, and plan a short volunteer briefing before the duties start, expected in spring 2027.
You do not need outside help to do this. If you would like a head start, our packs include templates written for volunteer-run halls: procedures, action cards, a hirer information sheet and a record log.
Frequently asked questions
Does Martyn's Law apply to village halls?
Only if 200 or more people, including volunteers and hirers' helpers, can reasonably be expected at the same time, from time to time. Many small halls will be out of scope. Those in scope are usually standard tier.
Our fire risk assessment says 250 people. Are we in scope?
Not necessarily. The occupancy figure is a ceiling, not the test. If your real events never come close to 200, you are likely out of scope. The statutory guidance gives a village hall example on exactly this point.
When someone hires our hall, are they responsible under Martyn's Law?
No. The committee or trustees remain the responsible person. You should explain your procedures to hirers and set out what you expect of them in the hire agreement. The only exception is a qualifying event of 800 or more where the hirer takes control of the hall.
Do our volunteers need formal training?
No formal training is required by law. Volunteers who will carry out procedures must know what to do and what their role is. A briefing at induction, a written procedure on the wall and free e-learning are enough for many halls.
Do we need to buy any security equipment?
No. Standard tier duties do not require physical alterations or equipment. They are about having procedures in place that the people on duty can follow.
Sources
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, section 2 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, Schedule 1 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Home Office statutory guidance on the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (GOV.UK)
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, section 4 (legislation.gov.uk)
General information based on the Act and published guidance, not legal advice. Check the official statutory guidance on GOV.UK for your situation.