Blog

The SIA on notification: what a small hall will have to tell the regulator, and when

10 August 2026

On 5 August the Security Industry Authority published an update on GOV.UK about its preparations for Martyn's Law. It was written by Laura Gibb, the SIA's Executive Director for Martyn's Law. Most of it is progress reporting. One part matters for anyone running a hall, club or community centre, and that is the notification duty.

What notification is

When the Act comes into force, whoever is responsible for a qualifying premises or event will have to tell the SIA that they are in scope. That is what "notification" means. It is not a licence and it is not an inspection. It is a record that says who is responsible for what.

The SIA says its notification portal is being built and is not open. You cannot notify yet. The SIA says it will publish more about how the portal works nearer the time.

The timings

The update points readers to new Home Office guidance on the notification requirement, issued in July. According to the SIA's update and reports of that guidance:

Premises will have a three month window from the day the relevant part of the Act starts, to send their notification.
After that, changes should be reported within 28 days.
For most qualifying events, notification is due within 14 days of the event date being made public.

Those windows are worth reading twice. Three months sounds generous. Fourteen days from publicising an event date does not. If your hall hires itself out, or your committee runs an annual show, the fourteen day figure is the one to remember.

None of these clocks have started. Commencement is widely reported as spring 2027, and the SIA has said its own build work is due to finish in early spring 2027. No commencement date has been fixed in law, so treat spring 2027 as expected rather than confirmed.

The bit that quietly takes work

Notification asks a simple question: who is responsible? For premises, that is the person, organisation or company with control of the premises for the use that brings it into scope. In a village hall with a trustee body, a bookings secretary and a caretaker, the honest answer is often "we have never written that down".

The other thing you will need is a number. The standard tier covers premises where it is reasonable to expect 200 to 799 people may be present. Working out your own figure, and keeping a note of how you reached it, is useful whether or not you turn out to be in scope.

So two jobs, both free, both doable at a normal committee meeting:

Write down who holds control of the premises, and who would sign a notification.
Write down your expected numbers, and the reasoning behind them.

What has not changed

The Home Office statutory guidance published in April is still the main document for working out scope and duties. The SIA's own section 12 guidance, which explains how it will regulate, is still draft. Its consultation closed on 12 June and the SIA has said the final version and a consultation report are planned for autumn 2026. That is the next thing to watch.

The SIA also thanked people who volunteered to help test the portal and shape its guidance, and asked those who have not heard back to be patient. If you registered, nothing is wrong.

This is a summary of published material, not legal advice about your building.

Sources

This is general information about Martyn's Law, not legal advice, and nothing here changes what the statutory guidance says.

Check your venue free All posts