Martyn’s Law Update: What the new guidance means for your premises
Yesterday, 15 April 2026 marked a major milestone in the implementation of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, more commonly known as Martyn’s Law. The Home Office has officially published the Section 27 Statutory Guidance providing the clearest roadmap yet, for what is required before the law comes into full effect in April 2027.
We are now officially at the midpoint of the 24-month transition period that began when the Act received Royal Assent in April 2025. For all organisations with capacity, this update is a vital reminder that the window for preparation is closing.
A focus on proactive protection
The guidance reinforces the tiered approach based on capacity (standard tier for 200+ and enhanced tier for 800+). Regardless of the tier, the Home Office is placing a heavy emphasis on Public Protection Procedures. The four core requirements you must be able to execute are:
- Evacuation: The process of getting people away from danger by moving them out of the premises or event (or part of the premises or event).
- Invacuation: The process of moving people away from danger to a place within the premises or event where there is less risk of physical harm being caused to them. This can include bringing people into the premises or event from outside or moving people from one part of the premises to another, where it is safe to do so.
- Lockdown: The process of securing the premises or event to prevent individuals entering or leaving (for example, to restrict or prevent the movement of an attacker by locking doors, closing shutters or using available barriers).
- Communication: The process of ensuring information is provided to individuals at the premises or event (for example, alerting people to danger as quickly as possible and providing instructions to remain in place or move away, where it is safe to do so).
The Critical Role of Communication
While the guidance lists these as four procedures, in a real-world scenario, they are entirely interdependent.
Communication is the operational trigger; without it, the other three cannot be activated in time to save lives.
The purpose of a communication procedure is to ensure information is provided to people at the premises or event, alerting them to danger as quickly as possible if an attack is taking place. It ensures people are provided with instructions, where it is safe to do so.
Information should be simple and clear to ensure any instructions are easy to understand and should be specific to the actions required to follow the relevant procedure.
Crucially however, the guidance explicitly states that evacuation plans for terrorist attacks “should avoid using the normal fire alarm on the basis that people may respond inappropriately to the threat”.
The biggest challenge for most sites is moving from a static emergency plan to a live, functional response. For any situation, effective communication ensures that lifesaving instructions reach every corner of a site simultaneously.
As the implementation period continues, the priority for many is ensuring that their communication can support these new legal requirements.
The Audiebant platform acts as a unified control layer that can integrate with your existing infrastructure, enabling instant, instruction-based communication across:
- Instant Response: Send announcements from anywhere in seconds
- Clear Instructions: Voice led, live TTS communication tells people exactly what to do.
- Pre-configured Scenarios: Pre-built responses aligned to your safety protocols.
Don’t wait for an inspection to find our you’re non-compliant. Contact us today to see how we can help you bridge the gap between policy and protection.
