Martyn's Law Insurance UK | Terrorism & Liability Cover

Published: 5 July 2026 | Reading time: 24 minutes | Category: Liability | Author: John Miller, Miller & Partner

What is Martyn's Law, and why does it change your insurance?

Martyn's Law — formally the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 — is the biggest change to public-venue safety duties in a generation. It received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, the Home Office published its statutory guidance in April 2026, and it is expected to come into force in spring 2027 after a 24-month implementation period. It requires those responsible for qualifying premises and events to prepare for, and be ready to respond to, a terrorist attack. Named after Martyn Hett, one of the 22 people killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, it follows the Manchester Arena Inquiry's recommendation that public venues be legally required to improve their protective security.

Here is the part every business owner needs to understand clearly: Martyn's Law is a compliance duty, not an insurance product — and no insurance policy makes you compliant. The government has been explicit that the required steps are largely low-cost and can be met without buying specialist services. But the Act does something just as important for your insurance: it formalises a duty of care around terrorism, sharpens your potential liability if you fail to prepare, and forces a hard look at a gap most venues don't know they have — the fact that standard property and business-interruption policies usually exclude terrorism entirely. As a specialist broker for adverse and hard-to-place risks, Miller & Partner helps venues, events and hospitality businesses understand what Martyn's Law means for their cover — the liability shift, the terrorism gap, and the non-damage exposures that catch people out. This guide sits alongside our sector guides for nightclubs, event security and crowd management and other affected sectors.

Does insurance make me compliant with Martyn's Law?

No — and this is the most important thing to be clear about, because a lot of noise in the market blurs it. Compliance with Martyn's Law is procedural, not financial. For standard-tier premises it means notifying the SIA and putting in place public protection procedures — evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication plans, plus staff awareness. For enhanced-tier premises and qualifying events it additionally means appropriate physical measures and a documented vulnerability assessment. The Home Office and SIA have stated plainly that businesses can comply without buying specialist services or products, and that no third-party product is endorsed as guaranteeing compliance. Any broker or consultant telling you that a policy "makes you Martyn's Law compliant" is misleading you.

So why does insurance matter here at all? Because Martyn's Law changes the risk and liability context your existing cover has to respond to. Once there is a statutory duty to prepare for terrorism, the consequences of an incident — and of failing to prepare — land partly on your insurance programme: your public liability if someone is hurt, your property and business interruption if there is damage or disruption, and your management liability if the responsible person faces regulatory action. The right response is not to buy a "Martyn's Law policy" (there is no such thing) but to do the compliance work properly and then review whether your insurance actually responds to the terrorism and liability exposures the Act throws into sharp relief. That review is where a specialist broker earns their keep.

What are the standard and enhanced tiers?

Martyn's Law applies a tiered approach based on how many people may reasonably be present at the same time, from time to time. Getting your tier right is the foundation of both compliance and any insurance review.

Standard tier — 200 to 799 individuals

Smaller qualifying premises where between 200 and 799 people (including staff) may be present. The requirements are centred on simple, low-cost activities: notify the SIA, and put in place public protection procedures — evacuation, invacuation (moving people to safety inside), lockdown, and communication — that staff would follow in an attack. Physical security measures are not mandated at this tier. Note that childcare, education and places of worship sit in the standard tier even where 800 or more may attend.

Enhanced tier — 800 or more individuals (and qualifying events)

Larger premises and qualifying public events expecting 800 or more people. In addition to the standard-tier procedures, these must, so far as reasonably practicable, put in place appropriate public protection measures to reduce vulnerability — such as CCTV, bag-search policies or vehicle checks — carry out a documented vulnerability assessment, and identify a senior responsible person. The documentation and accountability burden is materially higher.

Under 200 people, premises are outside the scope of the Act. But scope turns on realistic capacity "from time to time", so a normally quiet venue that occasionally hosts larger events can be pulled in — which is exactly the kind of nuance worth getting right before you assess your insurance.

Is my business in scope of Martyn's Law?

Scope is broad. The Act covers premises used for a range of publicly accessible activities — entertainment and leisure venues, retail, food and drink, hotels and visitor accommodation, sports grounds, museums and galleries, places of worship, health and education settings, and public areas of larger sites. If your premises consist of at least one building, are publicly accessible, are used for a qualifying activity, and can reasonably expect 200 or more people at the same time, you are likely in scope. Even venues not traditionally thought of as high-risk — community halls, small theatres, village facilities — can qualify.

This is why Martyn's Law touches so many of the sectors we insure. A nightclub, a busy pub or bar, a trampoline park, a soft play centre or a public event will often clear the 200 threshold at peak times. The practical first step is a capacity assessment — how many people, realistically, at your busiest — because that determines your tier, your compliance obligations, and the exposures your insurance needs to answer.

How does Martyn's Law change my liability exposure?

This is the subtlest, and arguably most important, insurance consequence of the Act. Today, a business's duty of care to visitors is a general one. Martyn's Law layers a specific statutory duty to prepare for terrorism on top of it. Once that duty exists and is in force, a business that suffers a terrorism-related incident and had failed to take the reasonable, required steps is in a materially weaker position if injured people or bereaved families bring civil claims. Non-compliance with the Act can become evidence that the business fell short of the standard of care the law now expects — strengthening a negligence or breach-of-duty claim against it.

The insurance implication is that your public liability cover becomes more, not less, important as Martyn's Law comes into force — and that the way you present your risk to liability underwriters changes. A venue that can evidence its tier assessment, public protection procedures, training and (where relevant) vulnerability assessment is demonstrating that it met its duty; one that ignored the regime is carrying both a regulatory exposure and a sharpened civil-liability exposure. Good compliance and good liability cover are two halves of the same protection. Our guide to high-risk public liability explains how underwriters assess this kind of duty-of-care exposure.

Why might I have no terrorism cover at all?

Most UK businesses are surprised to learn that terrorism is specifically excluded from standard commercial property and business-interruption policies. This dates back to the early 1990s, when insurers withdrew terrorism cover from standard policies and the government backed the creation of Pool Re, a mutual reinsurer, to make dedicated terrorism cover available. The upshot, decades on, is that unless you have bought terrorism cover as a specific, separate section or policy, a terrorist act that damages your premises or halts your business is very likely not covered by your normal insurance.

Terrorism insurance — whether Pool Re-backed or written in the commercial terrorism market — covers property damage and the resulting business interruption caused by an act of terrorism, and can be extended to the non-damage exposures that standard policies miss. For an in-scope venue thinking hard about terrorism because of Martyn's Law, checking whether you actually hold terrorism cover, and whether its scope matches your real exposure, is one of the most valuable reviews you can do. It is entirely possible to be diligently compliant with Martyn's Law and still have a gaping hole in your financial protection — because the two things are separate. Closing that gap for businesses the standard market handles poorly is squarely what a specialist adverse-risk broker is for.

What insurance should I review because of Martyn's Law?

Martyn's Law isn't a policy to buy — it's a prompt to review the covers that respond to terrorism and the liability it sharpens. The core review looks like this:

Terrorism insurance (property & BI)

The headline gap. Standalone terrorism cover for property damage and business interruption caused by an act of terrorism — because your standard policy almost certainly excludes it.

Public liability

Sharpened by the Act's duty of care. Ensure limits are adequate for a high-footfall venue and that your compliance evidence supports the risk. See high-risk public liability.

Non-damage business interruption

The hidden exposure: denial of access, cordons and loss of attraction after a nearby incident, with no damage to your own premises. See business interruption insurance.

Management liability / D&O

Cover for the responsible person and directors facing SIA investigation or enforcement — for defence and investigation costs. See directors' & officers' insurance.

Employers' liability & event cover

Legally required EL for staff who could be injured in an incident, and, for qualifying events, event liability and cancellation cover sized to the enhanced-tier exposure.

Why is non-damage business interruption the hidden gap?

When people think about terrorism losses, they picture a damaged building. But some of the most common — and most commonly uninsured — losses involve no damage to your premises at all. A terrorist incident, or even a security alert or suspect package, a few streets away can trigger a police cordon that closes your business for days. A high-profile attack in your town can cause a collapse in footfall — "loss of attraction" — for weeks. In both cases your building is untouched, so a standard business-interruption policy, which requires physical damage to respond, pays nothing.

This is the gap Martyn's Law is prompting sensible operators to confront. Non-damage business interruption extensions — denial of access by order of a competent authority, and loss of attraction following a terrorism incident — are available, typically alongside terrorism cover, but they are not standard and must be specifically arranged. For a venue whose entire income depends on people being able, and willing, to turn up, this is often the single most valuable cover to get right. Our guide to business interruption insurance explains how indemnity periods and non-damage triggers work.

How are directors and the responsible person exposed?

Martyn's Law creates personal accountability. Enhanced-tier premises and qualifying events must identify a senior responsible person, and the SIA's enforcement powers include compliance and restriction notices, monetary penalties, and criminal offences for serious or persistent breaches. That means the individuals in control — directors, trustees, senior managers, the designated responsible person — can face regulatory investigation and enforcement personally, not just the corporate entity.

Management liability and directors' & officers' (D&O) cover responds to this: it can fund the legal defence and investigation costs of an individual facing regulatory action, which are substantial even where no penalty ultimately follows. Note the important limit — regulatory fines and penalties themselves are generally uninsurable as a matter of public policy, so D&O covers the cost of defending yourself, not the fine. For any enhanced-tier operator, and for the trustees of larger community or worship premises, reviewing D&O and management liability ahead of the Act coming into force is a sensible step. See our directors' & officers' insurance guide.