ACT Training Guide: Counter-Terrorism Awareness for Venue Staff

What Does Martyn's Law Actually Require for Staff Training?

Less than you might think. The Act doesn't require specific training courses, qualifications, or certificates. What it requires is that your public protection procedures are effectively communicated to everyone who might need to act on them.

That means all staff, volunteers, contractors, and anyone hiring your premises for events. They need to know what to do if something happens. How you get them there is up to you.

The original draft of the Act included mandatory annual training for all front-of-house staff. That was dropped after the 2024 consultation. What replaced it is more flexible: communicate your procedures in whatever way works for your venue.

So why bother with formal training at all? Because the SIA has said inspections will look at more than whether procedures exist on paper. Its draft Section 12 guidance points to inspectors asking your staff and volunteers about them. If a random team member can't explain what they'd do during a lockdown, that's a problem. Free training courses give your staff and volunteers the background knowledge to understand why the procedures matter, not just what they are. (Not sure where you stand? Try our readiness check for a quick assessment.)

ACT Awareness e-Learning: The Baseline for All Staff and Volunteers

ACT stands for Action Counters Terrorism. The ACT Awareness e-Learning is a free online course built by NaCTSO (the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office) and Counter Terrorism Policing. It takes about 45 minutes, works on any device, and saves progress so staff and volunteers can pick it up where they left off.

The course covers seven modules:

1. The current threat landscape in the UK
2. Security vulnerabilities and how attackers exploit them
3. Recognising suspicious behaviour
4. Suspicious items and the HOT protocol
5. Handling bomb threats
6. Firearms and weapons attacks (Run, Hide, Tell)
7. How and when to report concerns

Staff and volunteers get a downloadable certificate on completion.

This is the single best starting point for any venue. It's what the government built specifically for this purpose, and it's better than most of the paid alternatives.

SCaN: How to Spot Hostile Reconnaissance

Before most terrorist attacks, there's a planning phase. Attackers visit the target to gather information: where are the exits, when is it busiest, where are the cameras, how does security work? This is called hostile reconnaissance, and it's the best opportunity to disrupt an attack before it happens.

SCaN (See, Check, and Notify) is the framework for doing this:

• See: know what normal looks like at your venue so you can spot what isn't. Someone photographing your CCTV cameras. A person loitering near fire exits with no obvious reason. Someone asking detailed questions about staff numbers or shift patterns.
• Check: use the ‘Power of Hello’. Approach the person, make eye contact, and say ‘Hello, can I help you?’ If they're innocent, it's good customer service. If they're not, you've signalled that they've been noticed.
• Notify: report anything genuinely suspicious to your manager, then to the police via 999 (if urgent) or the Anti-Terrorism Hotline on 0800 789 321.

SCaN training is delivered in person by Counter Terrorism Security Advisors (CTSAs). Contact your local CTSA to arrange it. It's free.

Run, Hide, Tell: What It Means in a Venue

Run, Hide, Tell is the police advice for individuals during a firearms or weapons attack. Your staff and volunteers need to know it. But in a crowded venue, it needs context.

Run

Get out if you can. Leave belongings behind. Insist others come with you, but don't let their indecision slow you down. For staff and volunteers, ‘run’ also means guiding customers towards exits away from the threat. You know the building. They don't.

Hide

If you can't get out, hide. Find a room with a solid door and lock it. Barricade if you can. Phones on silent (turn off vibrate too). Stay low, stay quiet, spread out from others. In a pub, that might be the cellar. In a restaurant, the walk-in fridge or a store room. In a community hall, an interior office.

Tell

When you're safe, call 999. Give them: your location, the attacker's location and direction of movement, how many attackers, what they look like, what weapons they have, how many casualties, and how to get into the building. When armed police arrive, follow their instructions exactly. Hands visible, no sudden movements.

Official counter-terrorism guidance now frames the venue operator's role differently: Guide, Shelter, Communicate. The Act's procedures line up with it. The shift recognises that telling 300 people to ‘run’ at the same time can cause a crush. Staff and volunteers should guide people calmly towards the right location, whether that's out of the building or deeper into it.

The HOT Protocol: Suspicious Items

An unattended bag behind the bar. A package left by the fire exit. A backpack under a table after everyone's left. Your staff and volunteers need a quick way to assess whether something is genuinely suspicious. The HOT protocol gives them three questions:

• Hidden? Is it deliberately concealed or in an unusual spot?
• Obviously suspicious? Visible wires, electronic components, unusual sounds, powders, or excessive tape?
• Typical? Is this item typical for this location? A rucksack at a bus stop is normal. A rucksack behind your bar counter is not.

If the answer to any of these is yes: don't touch it. Move people at least 100 metres away. Don't use radios or mobile phones within 15 metres (radio signals can trigger some devices). Call 999.

ACT in a BOX: Practice Without the Pressure

Knowing the theory is one thing. Knowing what you'd actually do is another. ACT in a BOX is a free digital tabletop exercise from NaCTSO that lets your team rehearse their response to realistic scenarios.

One person runs the session on a laptop or tablet. The exercise presents a fictional but realistic incident at or near your premises. Your team makes decisions together: do we evacuate or lock down? Which exits do we use? Who calls 999? What do we tell customers?

At the end, you can download a summary of the decisions your team made. It takes about 90 minutes and doesn't need a professional facilitator (though facilitator guides are included if you want them).

Running one of these once a year is enough for most Standard Tier venues. Quarterly is better if you can manage it.

How to Build a Training Plan (Without Paying Anyone)

Here's a practical training path for a Standard Tier venue. Every course listed is free.

Steps 1 and 2 should be part of every new starter's induction. Don't let someone work a shift without at least knowing where the exits are and what to do if something happens. For a full list of everything else you need to sort out, see our compliance checklist.

For duty managers, add ACT Strategic (a free 3-hour workshop delivered by your local CTSA) and consider engaging with your Counter Terrorism Security Advisor for site-specific advice. Also free.

How to Track and Evidence Staff Training

When the SIA inspects, it has said it will want to see that your staff and volunteers actually know the procedures. Having a record of who's been trained, when, and on what is your simplest proof.

At a minimum, keep a record of:

• Staff member or volunteer name
• Date of ACT Awareness completion (plus their certificate)
• Date of venue-specific procedures briefing
• Date of most recent refresher
• Any exercises attended (ACT in a BOX sessions)

A spreadsheet works fine. A sign-off sheet at the end of each briefing works too. The point is having something to show an inspector beyond ‘yeah, we told them’.

Training Sorted, Paperwork Done, in One Sitting

Standard Tier handles the tracking for you. Staff and volunteers scan a QR code, watch a video, take a quiz on your venue's specific procedures, and their completion is logged automatically. You get a dashboard showing who's trained and who isn't.

Combined with the PPP generator, you can go from ‘haven't started’ to ‘procedures documented, staff trained, audit trail ready’ in one sitting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources and Free Training Links

• ACT Awareness e-Learning (free, register on ProtectUK)
• Full ProtectUK training catalogue
• ACT in a BOX tabletop exercise
• SCaN (See, Check, and Notify) training
• Run, Hide, Tell guidance
• GOV.UK: Getting training and advice on counter-terrorism
• GOV.UK: Standard duty requirements factsheet
• ACT Campaign (gov.uk/ACT)