Places of worship are standard tier, whatever the capacity
If you look after a place of worship, this is the most useful thing to know about Martyn's Law, and it's good news. However many people the building holds, you're under the lighter duty.
A place of worship is in standard tier regardless of how many people it can hold, even where 800 or more may be present. A cathedral at Christmas is in the same tier as a village chapel. You need procedures, ideally written down, staff and volunteers who know them, and a notification to the SIA. You don't need the enhanced tier measures.
Why the exception exists
During the Bill's passage, Parliament accepted that putting large places of worship in enhanced tier would mean serious costs for organisations that are mostly run by volunteers and funded by their congregations. It would also have changed the character of buildings meant to be open to anyone.
The exception only changes the tier. A place of worship that's in scope still has to do the standard tier work.
What you have to do
- Agree what people should do in four situations: getting out, coming in or moving somewhere safer, locking down, and how you'd tell everyone. Writing it down is recommended.
- Make sure the people who'd be there know what those procedures say. That includes volunteers, wardens, stewards and whoever opens up.
- Be able to show you've done both.
You don't have to install CCTV, put in barriers, search bags or employ security staff. If someone quotes you for equipment saying Martyn's Law requires it at standard tier, it doesn't.
Whoever has control of the premises. For an Anglican church that's normally the incumbent and the parochial church council. For an independent congregation it's usually the trustees. For a mosque, gurdwara, synagogue or temple it's typically the management committee, board or trustee body. Because it's a group rather than one job title, write down who specifically is doing the work.
The volunteer problem
Standard tier asks that the people present know the procedures. In a workplace that means staff, and there's a payroll to check against. A place of worship has a rota, a WhatsApp group, and people who help when they can.
This is the hard part, and software won't fix it on its own. Records make it visible: who's been briefed, who hasn't, and how long ago. A rota of forty volunteers where eleven have never been briefed is pretty normal. You just can't see it unless it's written down.
If you look after many buildings
A diocese, a synod, a network of mosques or a charity with many sites has the same problem as a pub company, with less money and more volunteers. Each building is a separate premises with its own responsible person. The central body usually has no legal duty itself, but it's the one everyone turns to for guidance.
That's who we sell Musterlog to: one licence held by the body that keeps the list, free for each building. The parish or congregation gets somewhere to keep its procedures and rota records, and the centre can see which buildings have nothing.
Some established providers already work with faith networks, and some dioceses have arrangements in place. If yours does, use it. We won't claim a newer product is better than what your neighbours already use. We can help where nothing exists yet, or where the existing set-up covers the buildings but not the record of who was trained.
Free things to use first
Before you spend anything, use these. They're official and free.
- ProtectUK, run by the Home Office, NaCTSO and Counter Terrorism Policing, for procedure templates and the ACT Awareness course.
- Your own denomination or network's guidance, which is often already written with places like yours in mind.
- The Home Office statutory guidance, published April 2026.
This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Governance varies a great deal between denominations and faiths, so establish properly who holds the duty rather than assuming.
Primary sources: the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 and ProtectUK.