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Protective Response planning for Events
A qualifying event is not a building. It is a temporary set of arrangements in a place that may be used for something else entirely the following week — and the plan needs to reflect that.
The Martyn's Law Workbook lets you create an event-specific protective response record covering the organiser, the location, the expected attendance, the temporary structures and access arrangements, and the measures put in place for that event.
Starts with a 2–3 minute check to confirm your tier — already know it? go straight to checkout.
Where events differ
Qualifying events are treated differently from premises and, where the relevant criteria are met, are subject to Enhanced Tier requirements — regardless of what tier the venue itself sits in for its everyday use.
- The people are mostly unfamiliar with the site
- Staff may be temporary, agency or volunteer
- The layout is built for the event and then removed
- Access points and routes are not the building's usual ones
- Responsibility may be shared with the venue
What goes into an event-specific record
The same guided approach as a premises assessment, asked in the terms an event organiser actually thinks in.
The event
- Event details and dates
- Event organiser
- Location and site boundary
- Expected attendance
- Event characteristics
The site as built
- Temporary structures
- Access and egress arrangements
- Queueing and entry points
- Vehicle access and deliveries
- Site plan, marked up and uploaded
The response
- Emergency procedures for this event
- Communication arrangements
- Protective measures selected
- Responsibilities, by role
- Co-ordination with the venue and responders
The people running it
- Who is briefed, and on what
- Temporary, agency and volunteer staff
- Who can make the call to evacuate or lock down
- Where the control point is
- Briefing records held as evidence
Supporting documents
- Site plans and layouts
- Contractor and supplier documents
- Photographs of the built site
- Correspondence with the venue
- Everything in one repository
Review and afterwards
- Review before the event opens
- Changes recorded as they happen
- Post-event record
- What worked, and what to change next time
- Carried forward to the next event
Do it once properly, then repeat it
Most organisers run the same event again — the same festival next summer, the same seasonal market, the same fixture list.
Because the record is structured rather than a document, the parts that stay the same carry forward and you update only what has changed: the dates, the numbers, the layout and whatever the post-event review told you to do differently.
- The previous event's record becomes the starting point
- Actions from the post-event review are already on the list
- Site plans, photographs and briefing packs are reused, not recreated
- The history shows how arrangements developed year on year
Riverside Summer Festival
12–14 July 2026 · Expected attendance 9,000
When more than one organisation is involved
Events routinely involve an organiser, a venue, contractors and sometimes a landowner. In some situations there may be more than one Responsible Person, or different Responsible Persons operating within the same location. Where this occurs, the Act contains requirements for appropriate co-ordination and co-operation.
The Workbook gives you somewhere to record who holds which responsibility, what was agreed with whom, and when — so co-ordination is documented rather than assumed.
Where an organisation is the Responsible Person for a qualifying event, it must also designate an appropriate senior individual to ensure that the organisation complies with its requirements.
Not sure whether your event qualifies?
Qualifying events are subject to Enhanced Tier requirements where the relevant criteria are met. Capacity alone does not determine whether Martyn's Law applies — the type and use of the location, the numbers reasonably expected, exclusions and special provisions all need to be considered.
For definitive information about whether your event is within scope, refer to the current statutory guidance issued under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.