SIA publishes a free planning tool for standard tier venues
The regulator has published an optional worksheet for standard tier venues. It walks you through all four procedures and asks you to write down why each one suits your building.
What happened
On 9 November the SIA added a 'Tools and templates' section to its Martyn's Law collection page and published two documents in it. For a venue of 200 to 799 people, the one that matters is the standard tier planning tool. It's an editable ODT file, which Word and Google Docs both open.
There are four parts. Part 1 recaps the duties: notifying the SIA, having appropriate procedures in place so far as is reasonably practicable, and coordinating with other responsible persons where premises sit inside one another, a shopping centre being the SIA's example. Part 2 asks you to describe the premises, from the layout and opening hours to your busiest times, the queues, how you're staffed and what you count as the immediate vicinity. Part 3 is the bulk of it. Each of evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication gets one box for the procedure and a second for your reasoning: why it's appropriate, why it's reasonably practicable, and what you considered and ruled out. Staff training and coordination get a box each too. Part 4 asks when you'll next review it.
The second document is a template for enhanced tier premises and qualifying events, which those duty holders will send to the SIA once the law is in force. And in an update published the same day, the SIA said it has lined up over 30 more premises and events for pilot inspections. It wants feedback on both documents before 23 December.
What it means for your venue
You don't have to use it. The SIA says so in as many words: 'You do not need to use this planning tool to record your public protection procedures.' It calls the tool 'not a prescriptive checklist', and it repeats that a standard tier venue has no legal requirement to prepare a document to send to the regulator. Filling it in doesn't make you compliant on its own, either. What counts is having appropriate procedures actually in place, so far as is reasonably practicable.
The reasoning boxes are the part to take seriously. The SIA says it may ask for your procedures or inspect your premises, and that recording why you chose them is 'sensible and good practice'. If you've already written your procedures, there's no need to start again in the SIA's format. Add a short note against each one saying why it fits your building and what you decided against. Our guide to writing procedures covers the rest.
Nothing has moved on timing. The tool says the law 'will not come into effect before spring 2027', the notification service still isn't open, and there's still no commencement date.
Sources
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Standard Tier (2026). SIA publishes a free planning tool for standard tier venues. Available at: https://www.standardtier.co.uk/updates/sia-publishes-standard-tier-planning-tool
Last reviewed: 9 November 2026.
This update is general information about the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, not legal advice. Duties under the Act rest on the responsible person for each venue and cannot be transferred. If you're unsure how a specific requirement applies to your premises, take advice from a solicitor or qualified security adviser before acting on anything you read here.
Standard Tier is an independent platform and is not affiliated with the UK Home Office, the SIA, or any government body.