Martyn’s Law Essex — the Terrorism Protection of Premises Act 2025 — is now in force. For venue managers, event organisers and business owners across Essex and the wider UK, the legal duty of care has arrived. Here is what it means in practice, and why it matters more than any policy document.
There is a photograph I have never been able to forget. It was taken outside the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017, in the moments after a suicide bomber killed twenty-two people — many of them children — as they streamed out of an Ariana Grande concert. Parents who had driven across Manchester to collect their daughters. Staff who had turned up for an ordinary shift. People who had no reason in the world to believe that evening would be their last.
I spent over two decades in policing. I have sat across tables from survivors, from families, from the officers who responded that night. The question that haunts every single one of those conversations is the same one: could more have been done?
Martyn’s Law is Parliament’s answer to that question.
What Martyn’s Law Actually Means for Your Venue
The Terrorism Protection of Premises Act 2025 — better known as Martyn’s Law, named after Martyn Hett, one of the Manchester Arena victims — places a legal duty of care on venue operators and event organisers across the UK. It is not a voluntary framework. It is not best practice guidance. It is the law, and for Essex venues, the clock is already running. You can read the full text of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 on legislation.gov.uk.
The legislation creates two tiers based on capacity. If your venue or event regularly has between 200 and 799 people present — a pub function room in Chelmsford, a leisure centre in Colchester, a private events space in Brentwood — you fall into the Standard tier. You will be required to have procedures in place and ensure that staff are aware of them. If your capacity reaches 800 or above — a concert venue, a large sports facility, a festival site — you sit in the Enhanced tier, with more detailed requirements including a documented security plan and a designated responsible person.
What does that mean in practice for an Essex venue manager or event organiser? It means that the assumption that terrorism is someone else’s problem, something that happens in London or Manchester rather than Southend or Chelmsford, is no longer a legal position you can hold. Martyn’s Law Essex compliance will be enforceable, and the regulator will have real teeth.
If you want to understand exactly where your venue sits and what your obligations are, our Martyn’s Law support service is the place to start.
Compliance Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
Here is what I want Essex venue operators to understand. Compliance with Martyn’s Law is the minimum. It is the legal baseline. But the people I have worked with who got through genuine emergencies — who made the right calls under pressure, who moved people to safety, who held things together until the blue lights arrived — were not people who had read a policy document. They were people who had trained.
The SFJ Level 3 Award in Counter-Terrorism Protective Security and Preparedness is the qualification that bridges the gap between having a plan on paper and having a team who can actually execute it. It is the only counter-terrorism preparedness qualification endorsed by Counter-Terrorism Policing in the UK. Not approved by. Endorsed by. There is a difference, and it matters enormously when you are explaining to a coroner, an insurer or a regulator what your staff were trained to do.
The SFJ Level 3 CTPSaP course covers threat awareness, protective security principles, action on terrorist attack, evacuation and invacuation, and how to build a genuine security culture in your organisation. It gives your designated responsible person a nationally recognised, accredited qualification. It gives your team the language, the confidence and the muscle memory to respond rather than freeze.
Delivered Locally, Backed by Real Experience
1705 Consultancy is not a training factory. We are a small specialist consultancy built by people who have done this for real — counter-terrorism, crisis response, major incident command. My co-director Emma Brookes is a former Hostage and Crisis Negotiator and Tactical Firearms Commander. Between us we bring over four decades of frontline policing experience to every course we deliver.
We run scheduled counter-terrorism training in Essex including Chelmsford in June 2026, and we deliver nationally. If you are an Essex venue manager, an event organiser, or a business owner with responsibility for public-facing premises, there is a course that fits your timeline. We also deliver in-house to organisations who want their whole team trained together — it is often the most effective and most cost-efficient way to get compliance done properly.
If your venue is outside Essex, we will come to you.
The Question Worth Asking Yourself
Venue security training in Essex has historically been patchy. Too many operators have assumed that because nothing has happened yet, nothing will. Martyn’s Law exists because that assumption has already cost lives.
You care about the people who walk through your doors. I know that, because every venue manager I have ever worked with does. The question is not whether you care. The question is whether your team is ready.
If you are not sure of the answer, let’s talk. Book a free consultation, secure a place on our next course, or simply reach out and tell us where you are in the process. There is no obligation — just an honest conversation about what good looks like for your venue.