Martyn’s Law for schools and nurseries
Most schools are in scope, and most schools are also further along than they think — because you already have a lockdown plan. Here is how the law fits around what you have.
If you run a school, a nursery or a childcare setting, you have almost certainly done more thinking about this than a village hall committee ever has. You have a lockdown procedure. You practise it. The question is not whether you are starting from zero — you are not — but how Martyn’s Law lines up with what you already have.
Are you in scope?
The same single test: 200 or more people reasonably expected on the premises at the same time, counting staff. Pupils, teachers, teaching assistants, the office, the kitchen, the caretaker.
The rule, in three lines
- Fewer than 200 people reasonably expected at once — you are out of scope. This is true for every kind of premises, including churches and schools. A chapel that seats sixty is out.
- 200 to 799 — standard tier.
- 800 or more — enhanced tier, except places of worship and childcare or education settings, which stay standard tier however large they get.
Count everybody who could be there at once: the public, your volunteers, the performers, the person on the door, the ones washing up. Not tickets sold, and not the figure on your fire certificate.
A primary school with 380 on roll and 45 staff is comfortably in scope. A rural school with 78 children and 12 staff is out of scope — the 200 threshold is not waived for schools any more than it is for anyone else, and a small school is simply out. A nursery with 40 children and 9 staff is out.
And if you are large, you still stay in the standard tier
This is the concession education settings get, and it is worth knowing. Normally 800 or more people means the enhanced tier. The statutory guidance says premises used for childcare or primary, secondary or further education that reasonably expect 200 or more people “will be in scope of the standard tier, even if that number of expected individuals is 800 or more” (para 4.38).
So a 1,400-pupil secondary school is standard tier. A sixth-form college is standard tier. The lighter duties apply, whatever your roll.
Worth saying to your governors
Being large does not push a school into the heavy end of this law. Whatever the size of the school, the duty is the standard-tier one: notify the regulator, and have appropriate, reasonably practicable procedures.
You already have most of this
The four procedure types the Act names map onto things you almost certainly do already:
| Martyn’s Law calls it | You probably call it |
|---|---|
| Evacuation | Your fire drill route — though not always to the same place, and not always for the same reason |
| Invacuation | “Bring them all inside” — the one you use for a chemical spill, a dangerous dog, an incident in the street |
| Lockdown | Your lockdown procedure. You have one. You may even practise it. |
| Communication | The bell codes, the tannoy, the staff radio, the text to parents |
The work, then, is mostly not writing something new. It is checking that the four exist, that they are honest about your buildings, and that they cover the times when the school is not a school: the parents’ evening, the summer fair, the polling station, the Saturday lettings when a stranger has the keys to your hall.
The gaps schools most often find
- Lettings and out-of-hours use. Your lockdown plan assumes a school day, a full staff and a PA system that somebody is standing next to. Who is in charge at 7pm on a Tuesday when a community group has the sports hall and one caretaker has the keys?
- The site is not one building. Mobiles, a sports block across a yard, a nursery in a separate unit. A procedure that only works in the main building is a procedure with a hole in it.
- Invacuation is the neglected one. Everybody drills evacuation. Fewer drill the day when the safest thing is to bring 400 children in, away from the windows, and keep them there calmly for an hour — including the ones on the field, and the ones walking back from the swimming pool.
- Visitors and supply staff. The people least likely to know what your bell codes mean are the people most likely to be standing in a corridor when they sound.
Where the duty sits
With whoever is in control of the premises — the governing body, the academy trust, the proprietor. In practice the head or the business manager will be the named contact. As with everyone else: name the role, use a role email, and make sure the notification does not go stale when somebody is promoted.
The most useful hour you could spend
Not writing. Walk your site with your caretaker and your business manager and ask three questions: where do we put people if we cannot go outside? which doors actually lock from the inside? and who is in charge at half past six on a weekday evening? Schools that do this find something surprising every single time.
Not sure which side of the line you are on?
The checker walks you through the same rules in about two minutes. It is free, there is no account, and your answers never leave your browser.
Common questions
Are schools exempt from Martyn’s Law?
No. A school is in scope if 200 or more people — pupils and staff together — are reasonably expected on the premises at the same time. Small schools and nurseries below that number are out of scope.
Our secondary school has 1,300 pupils. Does that make us enhanced tier?
No. Childcare and education premises stay in the standard tier even when 800 or more people are expected, per the statutory guidance (para 4.38). A large school has the same standard-tier duties as a small one.
We already have a lockdown policy. Is that enough?
It is a very good start, and it is one of the four procedure types the Act names. Check that you also have the other three — evacuation, invacuation and communication — and that all four work outside school hours, during lettings, and on the parts of the site that are not the main building.
Does the community group that hires our hall on Saturdays have their own duty?
The duty attaches to whoever is in control of the premises, which is normally the school rather than the hirer. Your lettings agreement should tell hirers what to do in an emergency, but it does not transfer the duty away from you.
Where this comes from
Everything above is our plain-English reading of the following. Where we quote a paragraph number, it is from the Home Office statutory guidance. If you want the law itself rather than our summary of it, start with the first link.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (c. 10) legislation.gov.uk The Act itself. Royal Assent 3 April 2025.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: statutory guidance GOV.UK (Home Office) Published April 2026, last updated 18 May 2026. The paragraph numbers quoted in these guides are from this document.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: overarching factsheet GOV.UK (Home Office) The short version, in the government’s own words.
- ProtectUK Counter Terrorism Policing Free guidance and free e-learning (ACT Awareness). The training is genuinely good and costs nothing.
Last reviewed . Martyn’s Law is not yet in force and the guidance is still developing — if you are reading this long after that date, check the sources above for anything newer.
This is guidance, not a legal determination. Standfast helps you think clearly and get ready. It does not decide your legal position, and nothing on this page is legal advice. If your circumstances are unusual, or a great deal turns on the answer, take advice.