Martyn's Law: what comes next and how to get involved

There is another busy month ahead as we march towards the commencement of Martyn's Law so I wanted to share where we are, what's coming next, and how you can get involved.

In May, I had the opportunity to visit the Glade of Light memorial commemorating the victims of the Manchester Arena attack. It's a beautiful tribute and serves as a critical reminder of why our work matters so much and why we must be relentless in our pace as we work towards Martyn's Law coming into force. It was clear from the fresh flowers laid at the memorial that the people of Manchester and beyond have not forgotten the tragic attack, those who died, and those who continue to live with the consequences.

The new law and actions of those in scope will play a critical part in reducing the risk of others having to face the devastating consequences of terrorist attacks in future.

Working at pace

With that goal always in sight, the last month has seen much activity by the SIA.

We are making good progress with recruitment of the SIA's new inspectors and assessors. Our regulatory reach extends across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England so we are building regional inspection teams. These roles will be central to how we support premises and events through clear guidance and proportionate, risk-based decisions.

We have been impressed both by the level of interest and the calibre of applicants. We have been busy sifting applications and holding interview days. Thank you to everyone who has applied for a role with us at the Security Industry Authority. We look forward to welcoming successful candidates on board in due course.

If you are interested in joining the SIA, all vacancies – for both Martyn's Law and our private security regulation – are advertised on Civil Service Jobs; we also highlight many roles on our LinkedIn page.

Work is also well underway to develop our assessment and inspection approach. We have already completed our first pilot inspections and there will be more opportunities for organisations to get involved as we run more of these.

We are successfully onboarding our digital partner and starting work to build a user-focused and secure digital platform for notifications. Again, we will need your help with this as we test and build a system that works for you.

You can sign up to help us develop our processes if you're interested in helping with either of these. Taking part will give you an opportunity to shape the way the SIA builds the Martyn's Law regulatory regime.

Engaging those in scope

We have been travelling the UK, speaking at events and engaging with those in scope through those first pilot inspections and a series of webinars as we consult on the SIA's draft statutory Section 12 guidance. This is the guidance that explains how we will use our investigation and other powers.

It's been great to see so many organisations engaging with us and our consultation on how we will regulate.

The consultation is a genuine chance to feed back on our proposed regulatory approach. We want to ensure the guidance is as clear as possible and helps those in the sectors with obligations under Martyn's Law to understand our approach as a proportionate and supportive regulator, as Parliament asked us to be, but also one that is prepared to and will use its enforcement powers where it needs to.

Our decisions will be guided by a new regulatory risk framework, and we will work closely with other public bodies and regulators to build intelligence and assess risk to prioritise our resources and actions to determine the appropriate response. We will also be uncompromising in enforcing the new law where this is necessary. Assessment and inspections are part of that enforcement regime and we expect to use the full range of powers we have been given.

We have spoken to over 1,000 of you at our open webinars on our proposed approach. If you have not had the chance to sign up for one of our consultation webinars, it's not too late. We have 2 final sessions on 9 June and have a recording of the webinar available on our SIA YouTube channel. The consultation closes on 12 June 2026.

What you can do now

Some of you are asking when you can notify us that you are in scope of the new law and what the timeline is for compliance.

Martyn's Law has not yet come into force; the exact dates will be when the Home Office and Parliament, through statutory instruments, decide. It is expected to go live in spring 2027 and you won't be able to notify us until then.

However, there are steps you can take to prepare. The most important thing to do is to identify if you're in scope and build your understanding of what compliance will look like. I encourage you to read the Home Office guidancewhich provides more detail on the requirements in the legislation and helpful examples. Consider this in line with the context of your own specific premises or event.

We'll be joining with the Home Office on a series of events for premises and events in scope across the coming months – you can sign up for updates.

What to expect next

Many organisations will already have security measures in place. Others will be thinking about the steps that Martyn's Law will require them to take for the first time. We will continue to produce guidance that supports you through this, whatever your starting point. Protect UK hosts a wealth of useful information you can read alongside the Section 27 guidance.

When our Section 12 consultation closes on 12 June, we will work through the feedback and finalise the guidance about our new powers and how we will approach regulating the new law in practice.

Practical guidance on things like how premises and events should notify us that they are in scope of the new law and what details and documents to provide us with will follow later this year, when we have built our online notification system and the Home Office statutory instruments which will prescribe this are ready.