New government guidance tells school staff they must meet Martyn's Law duties. The law behind them will not fully apply before April 2027, and its regulator's guidance is still unpublished months after consultation closed.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
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In short. The Department for Education published explainer guidance on 3 November 2026 telling schools, colleges and childcare settings in England how to meet their duties under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, known as Martyn's Law [1]. Across 29 pages the document tells governing bodies and local authorities they "must" notify the regulator and "must" have public protection procedures in place, including a worked example of a school complying "during any SIA inspection" [2], but it never states that these duties are not yet in force. The Act's own commencement clause requires separate regulations before its public protection duties take effect [3], only two have been made so far and neither touches those duties [4] [5], and the Home Office's own website says Martyn's Law "has not yet come into force", with a minimum two-year implementation period from Royal Assent in April 2025 putting the earliest start date at April 2027 [6]. The same guidance promises the regulator's own rulebook "before the end of 2026" [2]; that rulebook's public consultation closed on 12 June 2026, and the consultation page still reads "we are analysing your feedback" five months later [7]. Two documented mistakes: four stars.
Martyn's Law is named for Martyn Hett, who was killed alongside 21 others in the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017, and it reached the statute book on 3 April 2025 after a campaign led by his mother, Figen Murray [8] [10]. It creates a tiered system of public protection duties for premises that can reasonably expect 200 or more people at the same time, overseen by the Security Industry Authority (SIA), with monetary penalties running up to £18 million or 5% of worldwide revenue for the largest premises [9]. Schools, colleges and nurseries are squarely in scope, and the Department for Education has now written a 29-page explainer to help them get ready.
The claims, tested
| The guidance's own words | What the Act and the Home Office's own record show | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| "Under the standard tier, settings in scope must have in place appropriate public protection procedures" (page 11); in a worked example, "the governing body is the responsible person and must comply with the standard tier duties under the Act... available to demonstrate compliance during any SIA inspection" (page 18) [2] | Section 37 of the Act says Parts 1 and 2, which contain the standard and enhanced tier duties, come into force only "on such day as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint" [3]. The two commencement orders made so far switch on only the SIA's guidance-writing powers and a revenue-reporting duty, not the duties the guidance describes [4] [5]. The Home Office's own news page states plainly: "Martyn's Law has not yet come into force" [6] | A document written for teachers, SENCOs and governors uses unqualified present-tense "must" language and an inspection scenario for duties that do not yet exist in law, without a single sentence telling the reader when, or whether, that changes |
| "The Security Industry Authority (SIA), as the regulator, will issue statutory guidance under Section 12 of the Act on how it will carry out its functions. This will be published on the SIA's GOV.UK page before the end of 2026" (page 3) [2] | The SIA's public consultation on that same draft guidance ran from 15 April to 12 June 2026. Its outcome page, unchanged since the consultation opened, still reads: "We are analysing your feedback. Visit this page again soon to download the outcome to this public feedback" [7] | With eight weeks left on the date this guidance itself sets, the document that is meant to precede it has shown no public sign of movement for nearly five months |
A legal requirement that is not yet legally required
The explainer is explicit about what "must" means in its own pages: "the term 'must' reflects a legal requirement in the Act" (page 3) [2]. That is true of the Act as passed, but it is not true of the Act as it currently binds anyone. Section 37(2) splits Parts 1 and 2 of the Act, the parts containing every duty this guidance describes, into two commencement tracks: the power to make regulations came into force at Royal Assent, but the duties themselves, "for remaining purposes", wait on the Secretary of State naming a day [3]. Nineteen months on, no such day has been named.
Two commencement orders exist. The first, made 18 March 2026, switches on section 27, the Home Office's own power to issue the primary statutory guidance the explainer repeatedly defers to, from 10 April 2026 [4]. The second, made 10 June 2026 and taking effect on the 15th, switches on parts of section 12, the SIA's guidance-writing duty, and section 18(5) to (7), a duty to publish a statement on how worldwide revenue is calculated for the largest penalties [5]. Neither order touches sections 5 to 10, the standard and enhanced tier duties themselves, the ones the explainer's worked examples describe as something a governing body "must comply with" under threat of "any SIA inspection" (page 18) [2].
The Home Office has said so itself, elsewhere. Its own "proportionate approach" update states without qualification: "Martyn's Law has not yet come into force. The Home Office has always been clear that there will be a minimum 2-year implementation period from Royal Assent, which was granted in April 2025" [6]. Two years from April 2025 is April 2027, a minimum, not a promise, and still five months away from even the earliest possible start. None of that appears in the 29-page document written to tell school staff what they "must" do.
A rulebook promised for this year, with no sign of one
The explainer's own account of what happens next names a date: the SIA's statutory guidance on how it will use its powers "will be published on the SIA's GOV.UK page before the end of 2026" (page 3) [2]. That guidance exists today only as a draft that went to public consultation between 15 April and 12 June 2026. The consultation's own outcome page is dated to its opening day and has not visibly moved since: "We are analysing your feedback. Visit this page again soon to download the outcome to this public feedback" [7]. A consultation response, a Secretary of State approval under section 12(2), and then publication all have to happen in the roughly eight weeks left before the explainer's own deadline. The claim may still land on time. Nothing in the public record as of this guidance's own publication date shows it is close.
Two documented mistakes, four stars. (1) The guidance uses unqualified present-tense "must" language, including a worked example of SIA inspection, for public protection duties that have not been commenced under section 37 of the Act, without once telling the reader these duties are not yet in force or when they might be. (2) The guidance states the SIA's own statutory guidance will be published "before the end of 2026" without disclosing that the public consultation on that guidance closed nearly five months earlier with no outcome yet published.
Credit where due
The explainer does not overstate its own authority. It states plainly that it is "non-statutory" and that the Home Office's primary guidance under section 27 "must be followed first" [2], and it is honest about the limits of the duties it describes: for the standard tier, covering most schools, "there is no statutory requirement in the Act to make any physical alterations or to purchase specific equipment" (page 11) [2]. Its "special consideration" for childcare, primary and secondary schools, which keeps most of them in the lighter standard tier even where more than 800 people might be present, is drawn directly from the Act and clearly explained rather than buried [2]. None of that is in dispute. What is missing is a single sentence telling a reader when any of it starts.
Verdict
Four stars, from two documented mistakes. A school governor reading this guidance has no way to learn from it that the duties described are not yet law, or that the regulator's own rulebook for enforcing them is overdue by its own timetable before it has even been consulted into final form. Schools preparing early is sensible; a government document that never says "not yet" to people being told what they "must" do is not.
Sources
- The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: in education, GOV.UK, Department for Education, published 3 November 2026.
- The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: Martyn's Law, explainer guidance for education and childcare settings, Department for Education, November 2026.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, section 37, legislation.gov.uk.
- The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2026, legislation.gov.uk, made 18 March 2026.
- The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2026, legislation.gov.uk, made 10 June 2026.
- A proportionate approach to Martyn's Law regulation, GOV.UK, Home Office.
- Martyn's Law: draft section 12 statutory guidance, GOV.UK, Security Industry Authority and Home Office, consultation closed 12 June 2026.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, legislation.gov.uk.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, section 18, legislation.gov.uk.
- Landmark anti-terror legislation gains Royal Assent, GOV.UK, Home Office, 3 April 2025.