Safety

Martyn’s Law, and what your masjid will actually need

Most masajid will find this is a morning’s work and a folder that stays up to date — not a building project and not a security contract. The law asks places of worship to think through what everyone does if something happens, write it down, tell the people who would have to do it, and be able to show that you did. That is the whole of the standard tier.

What the law is

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025. It is known as Martyn’s Law after Martyn Hett, who was killed in the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, and it was campaigned for by his mother.

It has not come into force yet. The Home Office has said there will be an implementation period of at least twenty-four months so that premises have time to prepare, which puts commencement in 2027. The regulator will be the Security Industry Authority.

Whether it applies to you

It applies where it is reasonable to expect that 200 or more people may be present at the same time, at least occasionally. For most masajid the honest test is Jumuʿah, or an Eid jamāʿah — not an ordinary Tuesday.

Premises in that position are in the standard tier. Places of worship that meet the threshold are treated as standard tier, which is the lighter of the two sets of duties in the Act.

What the standard tier asks for

Two things: tell the regulator you are a duty holder, and have appropriate public protection procedures in place so far as is reasonably practicable. The procedures cover four situations.

• Evacuation — getting people out of the building, and where they go once they are out.
• Invacuation — bringing people in, or keeping them in, when outside is the more dangerous place to be.
• Lockdown — securing the building, and who is able to do it at the time it is needed rather than in principle.
• Communication — how the people in the building are told what is happening, including the ones in the madrasah and the ones who do not speak English as a first language.

What it does not ask for

At standard tier there is no requirement to install physical security measures. No barriers, no scanners, no guards, no building work. Anybody selling a masjid equipment on the strength of this Act is selling something the standard tier does not ask for. There is also no fee to the regulator for being in the standard tier, and no inspection to book.

What there is, is paperwork that has to be real: procedures that fit your actual building, people who know them, and a record you can put in front of someone.

How MasjidOne will help

We are building a set of tools inside MasjidOne that help you prepare and keep the records the law asks for. Not a certificate, and not advice — the work is still yours, and so is the judgement.

• A guided set of questions about your building — the exits, the assembly point, when you are busiest, who holds which key — that produces a written plan covering the four procedures.
• Versions, so a plan that changes keeps its history and you can show what was in place when.
• A training record: who has done which course, and when.
• A drill log, with a reminder when one is overdue.
• One-click export of the current plan, the training records and the drill history, as a single document.
• An alert the committee can send to volunteers’ phones and to the prayer hall screens — with a drill mode that logs itself.

None of this is built yet. It is planned for February 2027, which leaves time to write a plan, train people and run a drill before the law is expected to apply. We would rather say that than show you a screenshot of something that does not exist.

The timeline we are working to

1. February — your plan written, from the questions rather than from a blank page.
2. March — volunteers and staff trained, and the training recorded.
3. April — a drill run and logged, and the evidence pack ready to export.

That ordering is deliberate: the plan is the thing the other two depend on, and a drill against a plan nobody has read tells you nothing.

What it will cost

The Martyn’s Law tools are included in both MasjidOne plans from February 2027, at no change to the price. If you want only this and not the rest of MasjidOne, there will be a standalone plan — MasjidOne Safe, from £25 a month.

Register your interest

Launching February 2027. Leave your details and we will write to you when there is something to look at — once, when it is ready. No newsletter.

MasjidOne helps you prepare and document your procedures. It is not legal advice and does not certify that you meet the law.