Policy paper

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: Scope (events)

Updated 24 July 2026

This factsheet focuses on events that are drawn into scope of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 ^{[footnote 1]} as qualifying events. The Act covers both premises and qualifying events. Further information on which premises are in scope of the legislation can be found in the scope (premises) factsheet and chapter 4 of the statutory guidance.

Further information about qualifying events can be found in chapter 5 of the statutory guidance.

What events are drawn into scope as qualifying events?

Events that satisfy the following six criteria will be qualifying events:

1. The event must take place at a location that meets the definition of premises under section 3(1) of the Act, that is a building, other land, or a building and other land. For these purposes ‘building’ includes part of a building or a group of buildings. There is no specific requirement that the building is made of a certain material or is of any particular size.

2. The event must take place at a location that is not already in scope of the Act as enhanced tier premises.

Those responsible for enhanced tier premises already have an obligation to consider and ensure that appropriate public protection procedures and measures are in place, so far as is reasonably practicable, in relation to all the activities that take place there. If the premises meet the criteria to be enhanced tier premises, please see the scope (premises) factsheet.

3. The event must be accessible to the public.

Members of the public must be able to access all or part of the premises for the purposes of attending the event. An event will satisfy this criterion where members of the public are eligible to attend the event in principle even if they ultimately cannot attend, for example, due to tickets selling out.

Events will not be qualifying events where the condition for entry is personal or private to the attendees and, as a result, access is not open to the public. Some examples include where access is restricted to relatives and friends invited to a wedding reception or employees invited to a corporate event that is not open to the public.

Events that are not open to the general public might take place at premises that already fall in scope of the Act as qualifying premises. In such cases, the premises will remain in scope of the Act due to the broader activities that take place there. The responsible person for the premises will continue to be the person in control of the premises and control will not transfer to the organiser of the private event.

4. It should be reasonable to expect that 800 or more individuals will be present at the event at the same time, at some point during the event.

This figure must include staff working at the event. Only those attending or working in the part of the premises connected with the event should be captured. This threshold does not need to be met throughout the duration of the event. For example, a day festival with 500 people reasonably expected on site until 6pm, followed by 1,000 or more expected later, would meet this criterion.  

Further information that may be used in order to assess this figure can be found in the assessment of the number of individuals expected to be present factsheet.

5. Have specific entry controls in place.

The event must have measures in place to check that attendees satisfy a condition of entry. This is the requirement that, to enter the event, members of the public have paid, have a ticket or pass, or are members or guests of a club, association or similar body. For entry controls to be in place, the event will need a well-defined and secure perimeter so that the entry check will be meaningful.

This criterion applies both to paid-for events and to free events where there is a specific check on entry as described above. Entry checks can include, but are not limited to, tickets, wristbands, membership cards, emails, QR codes or barcodes which are checked for access to the premises where the event is taking place. Staff at the event will usually undertake these checks. However, this criterion will also be satisfied if the checks are undertaken by an automated or electronic system, for example, via turnstiles.

This means that not every kind of entry condition is covered. Other forms of entry conditions – for example, having specific search criteria or a dress code – do not meet this criterion. In addition, a suggested entry charge or donation does not satisfy this criterion, as it would not be a measure to check that someone has paid to enter the event, nor does it satisfy the other entry criteria listed above. Therefore, a suggested entry charge or donation is not a condition of entry for these purposes.

6. The event must not take place at excluded premises.

Schedule 2 to the Act excludes certain types of premises from the scope of the Act and therefore any events held at such premises will not be included either. These are:

• Houses of Parliament, devolved legislatures and devolved governments.

• Transport premises where they are already subject to existing legislative requirements to consider and mitigate threats.

Application to standard tier premises

Premises that would otherwise be standard tier premises may host events which constitute qualifying events, for the purpose of section 3 of the Act. In those circumstances, hosting the events can either draw the premises into the enhanced tier under section 2(3) of the Act or the event can constitute a qualifying event.

The specific context of the event will need to be taken into account to determine whether the event is a qualifying event. The statutory guidance sets out the overarching principles which will help duty holders determine whether their event is a qualifying event when taking place at a standard tier premises.

In either case, it will be necessary for the responsible person to ensure a compliance document is prepared and that appropriate public protection procedures and measures, so far as is reasonably practicable, are in place either for the duration of the event (if the event is a qualifying event) or on an ongoing basis (if the premises are in the enhanced tier).

Application to events with both open access areas and locations subject to entry checks

Many events take place across a range of locations. For example, the many marathons, triathlons, carnivals, festivals, and parades that occur across the UK each year.

These events might include a mix of open-access areas, such as streets and towpaths, and other locations where entry is controlled. Where parts of these events fulfil the criteria set out in section 3 of the Act, the Act will apply to each such part separately (depending on the circumstances).

Each area that has entry controls and reasonably expects 800 or more individuals to be present at the same time will be in scope of the Act’s requirements. This will be the case even if the other elements of the larger event do not fall in scope of the Act. Areas with no entry checks (for example, pavements, towpaths and open roads) will not be in scope of the Act, unless they are within the immediate vicinity of the qualifying event.

Premises subject to different thresholds

There are types of premises in scope of the Act that are always treated as standard tier premises if they meet the qualifying premises criteria, even if 800 or more individuals are reasonably expected to be present at the same time, from time to time. This is sometimes referred to as the special consideration. An event will not be a qualifying event if it takes place at one of the types of premises that fall into that category. This applies to premises used for childcare, primary or secondary education, further education or as places of worship.

Footnotes

1. The Act was granted Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, but these requirements have not yet been commenced. This means that they are not yet in force and so do not need to be complied with until brought into force by regulations. ↩