The legislation, which is known as Martyn’s Law in tribute to Martyn Hett, who was killed alongside 21 others in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, aims to ensure venues consider the security of the public and takes steps to protect them from harm.
The bill was introduced to parliament in September last year and received Royal Assent this week (Thursday 3 April).
The Government intends for there to be an implementation period of at least 24 months before the act comes into force in a bid to help operators sufficient time to understand the new obligations and enable them to plan and prepare appropriately.
It will also help enable the new function of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) to be established.
Who does the legislation apply to?
The Act applies to publicly accessible buildings or land and must fall within one of the Schedule 1 uses. These include:
- the sale of food and drink for consumption on the premises
- entertainment and leisure activities
- the retail sale of goods
- hotels
- holiday parks
- sports grounds
- visitor attractions
- venues outside of hospitality also include healthcare, places of worship, childcare and educational establishments.
All UK premises that expect 200 or more people to be on site at any one time fall into this category.
Tiered approach
The legislation has a tiered approach, which is based on the capacity of venues with all required to carry out Public Protection Procedures. These are:
Standard tier - venues reasonably expected to house 200 to 799 individuals.
Simple procedures to reduce the risk of physical harm to those present are required.
These would normally include evacuation, invacuation, lock down and communication procedures, licensing solicitors Poppleston Allen advised.
Staff must be made aware of the procedures so they can be ready to put them into practice. The procedures will also require review.
Enhanced tier - venues reasonably expected to have 800 people or more.
All of the same requirements in the Standard Tier a well as operators being required to ensure public protection measures are in place to reduce the vulnerability of the premises.
Poppleston Allen advised this could be implemented through people (such as extra training), processes (i.e. bag search policy) or physical measures (for example, CCTV).
Furthermore, measures also include monitoring of premises, controlling people moving in and out of the site, physical and security measures alongside understanding the sensitivities of information relating to the venue and who should have access to those details.
Qualifying events - events that are reasonably expected to have 800 or more people in attendance at the same time during the event will also fall under the Enhanced Tier requirements, according to the licensing solicitors.
No tier - venues reasonably expected to have 199 or below people and/or premises uses not listed in Schedule 1.
There is no compliance required under the act for sites with this criteria.
Assessing number of individuals
There are a range of ways operators make a reasonable assessment. Poppleston Allen gave examples including:
- safe occupancy for fire safety purposes
- historic attendance data
- fixed seating and/or standing numbers
- tickets
- restrictions imposed by a premises licence or other authorisation
When it comes to outside the venue, while the immediate vicinity is not a factor in decided whether the site falls within the capacity numbers for the tiers, this area must be included in the relevant procedures and/or measures undertaken to reduce the risk of harm from or vulnerability to terrorist attack.
This means a pub might have to take into account the pavement immediately outside, Poppleston Allen advised.
Compliance responsibility
The responsibility in both tiers is the person (individual or corporate entity) with control of the premises in connection with their relevant Schedule 1 use such as the licensee of a pub.
It does not lie with the freehold owner if they have no involvement in the running of the site.
Enforcement
A new regulatory function will be established within the SIA with the organisation looking to advise, support and guide those responsible for premises and events in meeting the legislation requirements.
The SIA will have the power to take enforcement action in instances of serious or persistent non-compliance.
Penalties include compliance notices as well as financial penalties, which are a maximum of £10,000 for a fixed penalty plus £500 a day daily for those in the standard tier, according to Poppleston Allen.
For Enhanced Tier premises or Qualifying Events, the maximums are £18m or 5% of worldwide turnover and a £50,000 maximum daily penalty.
