If you’ve read about Martyn’s Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025) and assumed the 200-person threshold refers to the capacity of your building, you’re not alone. It’s the single most frequent misreading of the scope test, and it’s one that can send organisations down the wrong path from the start.

The threshold isn’t about how many people your premises can hold. It’s about how many individuals you can reasonably expect to be on site from time to time, and that includes your staff.

This page explains what the Act is actually asking, who counts toward the 200, and how to tell whether a one-off spike puts you in scope or not.

The Act sets two tests for whether your premises falls within its scope:

1. The primary use of your premises must be listed in Schedule 1 of > the Act, which includes uses such as places of worship, places > of education, retail, hospitality, and medical facilities.
2. It must be reasonable to expect 200 or more individuals on the > premises from time to time.

If both apply, your premises is probably in scope. Scope does not depend on the physical capacity of the building, the licence limit, or the maximum your fire risk assessment allows.

The phrase matters. It deliberately doesn’t say “every day,” “on average,” or “at any given moment.” It means: can you reasonably foresee that, from time to time, 200 or more individuals will be on site?

If the answer is yes, and it happens regularly (even if only once a year), the threshold is met.

• A parish church that only exceeds 200 for its Christmas Eve service? > In scope.
• A school hall used for a single annual sports day with 200+ > attendees? In scope.
• A pub that tops 200 for a cup final or a seasonal event? In scope.

A genuine one-off that you couldn’t have foreseen, for example a coach breaking down outside your premises and 50 extra people walking in, is not what the test is designed to catch. A recurring, foreseeable peak, however infrequent, is.

The 200-individual test counts everyone reasonably expected on the premises. That includes:

• Visitors, customers, and members of the public
• Staff and employees
• Volunteers (especially relevant for places of worship and faith > communities)
• Contractors on site regularly

Using “visitor footfall” alone to assess scope is a common error. If you have 150 visitors and 60 staff on site during a peak period, you’re over the threshold.

The Act allows any evidence-based method of estimating peak attendance. Common approaches include:

• Historical attendance records
• Fire occupancy records
• Ticketing or booking data
• Footfall counters (where installed)
• Fire safety plans

If you’re close to the 200 line and different methods give different answers, the safer position is to assume you’re in scope. A regulator using the higher estimate could find an organisation in scope that had decided otherwise, and enforcement penalties apply to organisations that should have prepared public protection procedures and did not.

The fastest way to know is our free Am I in Scope? tool. A handful of questions, a clear answer, no account needed.

If you already know you’re in scope, Get Started with Prova Risk to prepare your public protection procedures, train your staff, and keep the evidence you’ll need if inspected. £399 per year per site.

• Who Does Martyn’s Law Apply To?
• Standard Tier vs Enhanced Tier
• What Are Public Protection Procedures?
• Martyn’s Law for Schools
• Martyn’s Law for Hospitality
• Martyn’s Law for Places of Worship