When does Martyn's Law start, and what if we're not ready?

There is time. The penalties for schools are modest. The reason to start now is that the work is easier spread over a year than crammed into a term.

The timeline

• 3 April 2025: Martyn's Law (its full name is the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025) became law, with at least 24 months before it applies.
• April 2026: the Home Office published its statutory guidance. The regulator's own guidance followed.
• Spring 2027 (expected): commencement, the day the duties actually apply. This still needs formal confirmation. Nothing is legally required of your school until then.
• Commencement plus three months: the deadline to tell the Security Industry Authority you are responsible for the premises. After that, changes must be reported within 28 days.

Notification is done online. The details will be published before the window opens.

Who checks, and how?

The Security Industry Authority is the regulator. Its inspectors can visit, usually with at least 72 hours' written notice. They can look around, read and copy documents (paper or electronic), and ask anyone on the premises to explain a document or say where it is.

That is why the guidance says to write the procedures down, even though the standard tier has no legal duty to. A procedure that lives in the headteacher's memory is hard to show anyone.

What happens if you're not ready?

The regulator has said it will advise and support first. If a school still falls short, the next step is a compliance notice: a written requirement to fix a specific thing by a date. Money only comes into it if that is ignored.

Every school is standard tier, whatever its size. In the standard tier the maximum civil penalty is £10,000, plus up to £500 a day while a compliance notice keeps being ignored. Ignoring a compliance notice is not a criminal offence in the standard tier.

You may have seen bigger numbers in the press: £18 million, or five per cent of revenue. Those are for the enhanced tier (arenas, stadiums, large venues, universities). They do not apply to schools. And breaking Martyn's Law does not give parents, or anyone else, a new right to sue the school. The ordinary law on negligence is unchanged.

Why start now anyway?

The work is small in pieces and large in a rush. Reviewing four procedures, walking the site, briefing staff and running one tabletop exercise fits into a school year alongside everything else. Doing all of it in the spring term of 2027, while every other school in the county is asking the same LA officer the same questions, does not.

And the procedures protect children whether or not an inspector ever visits.

Related: Martyn's Law for primary schools · a checklist for business managers