Martyn's Law for schools, colleges and universities

KEY POINTS

Childcare settings, schools and further education colleges expecting 200 or more people at once are in scope, but are always standard tier, however large they are.
Events held at those settings cannot be qualifying events, so the governing body stays responsible even when the site is hired out.
Universities and other higher education institutions get no special rule. A campus can be enhanced tier, with a designated senior individual and a compliance document.
Student accommodation managed by or for a university counts as higher education use.
Most schools and colleges already have lockdown and evacuation plans. The task is to check they cover a terrorist incident and that every member of staff knows their role.

The short answer

Martyn's Law, the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, applies to education premises in two different ways.

Childcare (early years), primary, secondary and further education premises are in scope if 200 or more people, including staff, can reasonably be expected at the same time, from time to time. If they are in scope, they are always standard tier, even if 800 or more people are present. This is the effect of paragraphs 13(3), 14(3)(b) and 15(2)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Act.
Higher education premises, such as universities, are treated like any other premises. Under 200 they are out of scope, from 200 to 799 they are standard tier, and from 800 they are enhanced tier.

The Home Office statutory guidance explains the difference at paragraph 4.39. Schools and colleges operate in controlled environments with existing safeguarding duties, while parts of university campuses are usually open to the public and host frequent public events.

None of these duties are in force yet. They are expected to start in spring 2027, at the end of an implementation period of at least 24 months from Royal Assent on 3 April 2025.

Which settings get the special rule

The Act lists the settings in detail, with separate definitions for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The table below summarises how the statutory guidance describes them. If your setting is unusual, check the exact wording in Schedule 1.

Setting	Examples	Tier if 200 or more	Responsible person
Childcare	Day nurseries, pre-schools, maintained nursery schools and other registered early years provision	Always standard	Whoever controls the premises for the childcare use
Primary and secondary education	Maintained, academy, free and independent schools, alternative provision academies, pupil referral units	Always standard	Governing body or proprietor; the local authority for a pupil referral unit
Further education	FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, 16 to 19 academies, publicly funded independent training providers	Always standard	Varies by type, as set out in paragraph 15 of Schedule 1
Higher education	Universities and other higher education institutions as defined in paragraph 16 of Schedule 1, including managed student accommodation	Standard or enhanced, depending on numbers	The institution's governing body

Remember that the 200 figure includes everyone: pupils or students, teachers, support staff, contractors and volunteers. A primary school with 180 pupils and 30 staff is already over the line on a normal school day. A small village primary of 90 pupils may be out of scope unless events such as a summer fair or nativity reliably bring 200 or more onto the site at once.

A school that is in scope cannot become enhanced tier, no matter how large. A university can. That single difference drives most of what follows.

Schools and colleges: what the duties look like

At the standard tier you must notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and have appropriate procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication, so far as reasonably practicable. You do not have to install equipment or make physical changes.

The statutory guidance recognises that existing safety and safeguarding requirements mean most schools and colleges will already have access control, lockdown and evacuation procedures. In England, the Department for Education's non-statutory guidance, Protective security and preparedness for education settings, covers preparing for terrorism and other major incidents. Martyn's Law does not ask you to start again. It asks you to check that what you have is appropriate for a suspected terrorist attack and that staff can put it into action quickly.

Questions worth asking of your current plans:

Does the lockdown plan work for every building, including mobile classrooms, sports halls and the dining hall at lunchtime?
Is there a distinct signal for lockdown that staff and pupils will not confuse with the fire alarm? The guidance warns that fire can be used as a weapon, so an alarm should not automatically be assumed to mean only a fire.
Does the evacuation plan send everyone to a single assembly point on the field? For a suspected attack, dispersing via several routes, or staying inside, may be safer.
Have you thought about the immediate vicinity, especially the school gate at drop-off and collection, when hundreds of parents and children gather outside your boundary?
How will you tell parents what is happening without encouraging them to come to the site during an incident?
Do supply staff, peripatetic teachers, contractors and volunteers get a briefing on the procedures as part of their induction?

There is no statutory requirement for formal counter-terrorism training. The guidance does expect that the people who will carry out procedures know what they are and what their role is, and that all staff know how to spot and report suspicious behaviour. Free resources such as ProtectUK's ACT Awareness e-learning and the ACT e-learning for education, developed by the Department for Education with NaCTSO, can help. Our guides to lockdown and staff training go into more detail.

Events, open evenings and hiring out school sites

Schedule 2 to the Act says an event cannot be a qualifying event if it is held at premises wholly or mainly used for childcare, primary, secondary or further education. So a school play, sports day, open evening, Christmas fair or prize-giving at your site never triggers the enhanced event duties, whatever the attendance.

The same applies when you hire the site out. The statutory guidance gives the example of a secondary school with 950 pupils whose playing fields are hired in the holidays for a music festival expecting 950 people. The festival is not a qualifying event, the school stays standard tier and the governing body stays responsible. Responsibility cannot be delegated, but the school chose to set out the public protection duties in the hire contract.

In practice, that means your lettings agreement should do some of the work for you:

Explain your procedures to the hirer in writing and name who on their side will lead in an emergency.
Require the hirer to brief their own staff, volunteers and stewards before the event.
Make clear which doors, rooms and areas they can use and who holds keys.
Keep a copy of the signed agreement and any briefing notes. If the SIA asks, you need to be able to show you set clear requirements and took reasonable steps to check they were followed.

Your procedures should also reflect evening and weekend use, when the people on site are different and your usual staff may not be there. The guidance accepts that procedures can vary between times when the premises are busy and when they are not.

Universities and higher education

Universities follow the normal thresholds. Many campuses will be enhanced tier, because 800 or more people are present at the same time from time to time. The guidance gives a university campus as a common example of a group of buildings, where buildings close together with a shared principal use and the same responsible person can count as one set of premises. Whether your campus is one set of premises or several is a judgement to make carefully and to record.

At the enhanced tier the governing body must, in addition to the standard duties:

put appropriate public protection measures in place, covering monitoring, movement of people, physical safety and security, and security of information, so far as reasonably practicable
prepare a compliance document and give it to the SIA
designate a senior individual, because a university is a body rather than an individual

Halls of residence count as higher education use where they are managed by or for the institution. The guidance gives the example of halls let as a hostel over the summer: the governing body still treated them as mainly used for students. Halls owned and run independently by a private provider, with no management link to the university, are not covered by that wording and would need to be assessed on their own use.

Our guides to enhanced tier duties and the designated senior individual explain these requirements in detail.

Graduations, open days and student unions

Large university occasions need to be mapped to the right set of rules. These are illustrations of how the general rules apply, not examples taken from the guidance.

Open days and graduations held on an enhanced tier campus are not qualifying events, because an event at enhanced tier premises cannot be one. They are part of the university's own duties, and its procedures and measures should account for them.
A graduation held at an arena or conference centre that is itself enhanced tier is covered by that venue's duties. The university should co-operate with the venue and brief its own staff and marshals.
A graduation held in a cathedral is held at a place of worship. The cathedral stays standard tier, the ceremony is not a qualifying event and the cathedral's governing body remains responsible. See our guide to places of worship.
A ticketed event of 800 or more held somewhere that is not already enhanced tier, such as a park or a hired field, can be a qualifying event with its own enhanced duties.

Student unions need particular care. Many are separate charities that run their own bars, venues and shops, sometimes in a building they control. Under the Act, responsibility follows control. If a union controls its own building for a use such as entertainment or food and drink, it may be the responsible person for those premises, even though they sit inside a wider university site. Where one set of qualifying premises forms part of another, the two responsible persons must co-ordinate, so far as reasonably practicable. Where the university is enhanced tier, anyone else with a degree of control over its premises must also co-operate with it.

Agree in writing who controls which spaces, whose procedures apply during union events, how alarms and messages are shared, and who notifies the SIA for what. A freshers' week is the wrong time to discover that the union and the university security team have different lockdown signals. Our guide to multi-tenant and shared buildings covers co-ordination in more depth.

Common mistakes and next steps

Assuming schools are exempt. They are not. They are capped at the standard tier.
Forgetting staff, contractors and volunteers in the headcount for a small school or nursery.
Treating a university like a school. Higher education gets no special rule.
Leaving lettings agreements silent on emergency procedures.
Running separate, unconnected plans for the union and the university on a shared site.

A sensible next step is to compare your existing lockdown and evacuation plans with the four procedures the Act describes, then fill any gaps and record what you decided. The free tier checker can confirm your starting position. If you want a ready structure, our packs include standard tier templates that sit alongside existing safeguarding and fire safety documents rather than replacing them.

Frequently asked questions

Does Martyn's Law apply to schools?

Yes, if 200 or more people, including staff, can reasonably be expected on the premises at the same time, from time to time. Schools in scope are always standard tier, however many pupils they have.

Are nurseries and early years settings covered?

Yes. Childcare premises that meet the 200 threshold are in scope and are always standard tier. Many smaller nurseries will fall below 200 and be out of scope.

Can a university be enhanced tier?

Yes. Higher education premises get no special rule, so a campus where 800 or more people are present at the same time from time to time is enhanced tier, with a compliance document and a designated senior individual.

If we hire our school field to a festival organiser, who is responsible?

The school's governing body or proprietor. Events at schools cannot be qualifying events, so responsibility does not pass to the organiser. You can set out public protection duties in the hire contract.

Do we need to buy counter-terrorism training for teachers?

No. The statutory guidance says paid third-party training is not mandatory. Staff who carry out procedures must know what to do, and all staff should know how to spot and report concerns. Free resources are available.

Sources

General information based on the Act and published guidance, not legal advice. Check the official statutory guidance on GOV.UK for your situation.