Martyn’s Law / Protect Duty

In 2017, the Islamic extremist Salman Abed undertook a suicide attack at the Manchester Arena, UK, at the Ariana Grande concert. Twenty-two concertgoers were killed, and over a thousand were seriously injured. The UK government undertook a public inquiry into the events leading up to the attack. The inquiry was headed by Sir John Saunders, and as part of his final recommendations to prevent a reoccurrence, he stated, ‘There ought to be a risk assessment for every venue. All risk assessments for large concert venues should include consideration of the risk of a terrorist attack.’

At the conclusion of the inquiry the UK government undertook a significant public consultation to determine what legal changes if any should be introduced on the event and security industries and the likely impact of those changes. The consultation included campaign groups, industry leaders, security experts and local government representatives amongst others.

The intention was to introduce a bill to parliament that would mandate proportionate changes to the security and event industry rapidly to prevent a recurrence of a Manchester-type attack. However, the global COVID pandemic significantly delayed any such bill being passed in parliament.

With a change of government in 2024, the bill is finally set to be finally passed within the current parliamentary period.

What does the Bill provide

In essence, the Bill in its current form (October 24) intends to provide a balance between protecting the public without putting unreasonable obstacles in the way of event organisers. The UK government has stated it is conscious of the impact major changes would have on event and security industries whilst still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic impacts.

As such, the Bill currently proposes a Tiered approach to events, meaning that lower-scale events in terms of numbers attending and type will have a lower onus on them to put in place additional security measures to prevent an attack, while events attracting large numbers will have additional responsibilities.

Currently, there are only two proposed Tiers. Events attracting fewer than 200 people are not expected to have any additional requirements.

Standard Tier

The standard tier is for events likely to attract 200-799 people. The aim is for security measures to be low-cost and achievable; no additional physical measures should be needed. Compliance should be achieved by increasing staff preparedness, providing simple information to those attending, and having reasonable evacuation or evacuation plans in the event of an attack.

Enhanced Tier

The Enhanced tier is intended for events likely to attract 800 persons or more. This tier will require that event organisers put in place those measures required for the Standard tier, as well as additional layers of security. These being:

• Notify the regulator, in this case the SIA (Security Industry Authority).
• Put in place reasonable & proportionate physical measures that can be expected to reduce a sites vulnerability to an attack and reduce the likelihood of physical harm to those attending and staff.
• Provide documentation to the regulator stating what measures have been put in place and how they are expected to reduce risk and vulnerability.
• Nominate an individual responsible for these measures and assessments.

The UK government, anticipating the demands Martyn’s law will likely have on Enhanced-tier events, is planning to develop a register of suitably qualified peer-reviewed Counter Terrorism Security Experts that would be available for industry to approach to provide support for the enhanced-tier requirements.

The register is being referred to as Counter Terrorism Security Specialists Register (CTSSR). The criterion for membership is still being developed but initial proposals strongly suggest that Sceptre Protection with their extensive Counter Terrorism experience and CT academic qualifications would be on the register once it is launched.

Just so you know, using a contracted CT expert is not a mandatory requirement. Additional training will be available through UK Protect (Link below) to allow event organisers to comply with the legislation. The CTSSR register is there should individual events or sites decide they require expert advice or to transfer the responsibility of risk management to another organisation.

The UK Protect website is an excellent source of information for Martyn’s law and is being regularly updated. It should be noted that as of October 2024, none of the above information is law, but it is expected to be passed during this current session of parliament: https://www.protectuk.police.uk/