Martyn's Law: keeping up the momentum
Laura Gibb, the SIA's Executive Director for Martyn's Law, shares an update on progress, and new guidance on the notification requirement.
As our preparations for Martyn’s Law continue, I wanted to share some important updates, express thanks to those who have already stepped forward to support our work, and highlight some new guidance that will be of interest to those in scope of Martyn’s Law.
Thank you to our volunteers
We are grateful to everyone who has volunteered to help us develop our notification portal and regulatory guidance ahead of Martyn’s Law coming into force. It reflects the commitment with which so many people are approaching Martyn’s Law.
If you have registered your interest and are yet to hear from us, please don’t worry. We are carefully working through all expressions of interest and will get in touch as different phases of our work progress.
Over the coming months, we will continue to give volunteers the opportunity to test early versions of our notification portal and share their feedback. The contributions of those we have heard from so far has been invaluable. We will also invite people to help us test and give constructive feedback on new draft regulatory guidance materials before they are published.
Your input at this stage will be essential to helping us build something that works for the full range of premises and events in scope. We still need more volunteers. If you have yet to register your interest, you can do so through our sign-up form.
Events, festivals and Martyn’s Law
Summer brings with it some of the UK’s biggest and best-loved events, and with festival season in full swing, we know that Martyn’s Law is front of mind for many organisers. In addition, the national threat level for the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) from all forms of terrorism is SEVERE. While the law won’t come into effect until next year, we know many of you already have some measures and procedures in place and are already thinking ahead about compliance. It’s a good time to start preparing.
We want to be clear that Martyn’s Law is not about stopping events from happening. It is about making them safer. The requirements are designed to ensure what’s expected is appropriate and reasonably practicable for the premises, and where strong protective security measures are already in place, these will provide a solid starting point for compliance.
Our webpage on understanding Martyn’s Law sets out information to help premises and events know what they need to do to comply, and we encourage everyone in scope to dedicate some time to reading it. You can also find other useful information on ProtectUK.
The notification requirement and responsible persons
The Home Office recently published new guidance to help those in scope understand the requirement to notify and what it means in practice. We know that lots of those who may be in scope of Martyn’s Law have been considering what this means for them and asking sensible questions about their own circumstances.
Once Martyn’s Law comes into force, those responsible for qualifying premises and events will need to formally notify us that they are in scope. We are building our notification portal, and we will publish further information nearer the time on how to use it and how the new portal will be designed to keep information secure.
The timelines for notifying differ depending on whether you are notifying us about premises or an event:
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for qualifying premises, there will be a 3-month window from commencement of the relevant section in the Act to submit a notification, with changes to be reported within 28 days after that
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for qualifying events, in most cases the responsible person will need to notify the SIA within 14 days of the event date being made publicly available
For both premises and events, the responsible person may authorise someone else to submit a notification on their behalf, although legal responsibility for compliance always remains with the responsible person.
For qualifying premises, the responsible person is the individual, organisation or company with control of the premises for the use that makes it subject to Martyn’s Law. And for qualifying events, this is the individual, organisation or company with control of the premises at which the qualifying event is taking place, for the purposes of the event.
In case you’re unsure, as Home Office guidance explains, you have “control of the premises” if you typically have both of the following:
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possession of the premises at the time (in the sense that you are the occupant)
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the right and ability to make decisions about their management and use, particularly on who may or may not remain on site
Many of you have told us you are finding some of the detail around notifications tricky to navigate. There is a helpful flowchart on ProtectUK to help you work out what this means for your premises or event, alongside answers to many other frequently asked questions about what Martyn’s Law might mean for you in practice. Tell us what else you would find helpful by emailing us at MLR@sia.gov.uk.
Stay in touch
We will be sending out the next edition of our Martyn’s Law newsletter later this month with further updates. If you are not already signed up, you can do so via our registrations page.
As ever, we are grateful for the dedication and effort so many of you are putting into preparing for Martyn’s Law. The work you are doing now will make a real difference. If you have questions about our work, please get in touch with us at MLR@sia.gov.uk.