Martyn's Law for mosques, temples and gurdwaras

If your mosque, temple or gurdwara fills up for Friday prayers, Eid, Diwali or Vaisakhi, the obvious worry is that a big crowd tips you into the heavier end of Martyn’s Law. It doesn’t. The law treats places of worship differently: you stay in the Standard Tier even when hundreds are in at once. The question that actually decides things is a simpler one — do you reach 200 people at the same time? Here is how it works for a place of worship, and what you would really have to do.

Does Martyn’s Law apply to a mosque, temple or gurdwara?

Yes, once you can reasonably expect 200 or more people in at the same time, from time to time. A place of worship is one of the uses the Act covers, and it is defined by what the building is for, not by faith — mosques, temples, gurdwaras, synagogues and churches all count the same way. Below 200 at once, the Act simply does not apply.

The 200 is the whole building at its peak, not a daily average. Count everyone who would be there at the same time on your busiest realistic occasion: worshippers, the committee, volunteers, the people cooking and serving, anyone running a class, and any contractors on site. “From time to time” just means occasionally — the packed Friday, the festival, the big funeral — not every day.

Does a packed Friday prayer or a festival push you into the Enhanced Tier?

No. This is the part that catches people out: a place of worship stays in the Standard Tier even when 800 or more are expected. A full Jummah, taraweeh through Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Navaratri, Vaisakhi or a Gurpurab with the langar in full swing does not move you up a tier. Almost everywhere else, 800 people at once means the Enhanced Tier; for a place of worship, it does not. The statutory guidance is explicit about it.

That is a deliberate easing of the law for places of worship. It means your busiest day of the year — the one you might have assumed was the problem — is the one the law asks the least about. The number to settle is still the 200: reach it from time to time and you are in the Standard Tier, with the Standard Tier duties and nothing heavier.

The one condition — worship has to be the main use

This Standard Tier treatment applies where the premises are used mainly as a place of worship. For a mosque that is a mosque, a temple that is a temple, a gurdwara that is a gurdwara, that is straightforward — worship is plainly the principal use, and the rule holds however busy it gets.

It only gets complicated if worship is not really the main use of the site. A building run first and foremost as a commercial events venue or a large independent school, with a prayer room attached, is judged on that main use, not on the worship. If that is not you — and for most mosques, temples and gurdwaras it is not — you do not need to worry about it.

What about the madrasah, the langar and the community hall?

Count them all, then judge the site on its main use. A supplementary school in the evenings, a langar kitchen, a hall used for weddings, festivals and funerals — these are ordinary parts of a place of worship. Where worship is the principal use of the site, they sit under the same Standard Tier rule, however many they draw.

For the 200 count, they all add up: everyone in the building at the same time counts, whichever part of the site they are in. So the peak is the moment it is all happening at once — prayers finishing as the madrasah arrives and the kitchen is serving — not each activity on its own.

Who is responsible?

The body that controls the premises — your mosque committee, temple management committee, gurdwara committee or board of trustees. Not the imam, pandit or granthi personally, and not someone who hires your hall for an afternoon. The responsible person is a matter of fact: whoever actually runs the place and decides how it is used.

You can hand the tasks to other people — a volunteer, a steward team on festival days — but you cannot hand over the duty. It stays with the governing body. If more than one body shares a site, the one in control of the premises for worship is the one that carries it.

We hire the hall out, or host a big event — does that change it?

No. Hiring your hall out, or hosting a large one-off — a fundraising dinner, a concert, a big wedding — does not take you out of scope, and it does not hand the responsibility to whoever booked it. The guidance gives the example of a place of worship hired for a concert of up to a thousand people: it is not treated as a separate qualifying event, and the governing body stays responsible.

So a big booking will not quietly push you into the Enhanced Tier — and it will not let you off the hook either. The response on the day is still yours to have ready. If you want the line between a busy premises and a separate ticketed event, see what counts as a qualifying event.

What do you actually have to do?

At the Standard Tier the law asks for four procedures, in place so far as is reasonably practicable — and nothing you have to buy. For a place of worship they come down to this:

• Evacuation — how you get people safely out and away: which doors, by which routes, and who gives the word when the hall is full.
• Invacuation — where the safer place inside is, and when you would move people into it or hold them there, if the danger is outside.
• Lockdown — how you secure the building to keep someone out: which doors and shutters close, and who has the authority and the means to do it.
• Communication — how you reach a full prayer hall quickly and calmly, in the languages your community uses, so one clear instruction actually lands.

There is no mandatory equipment, no building work, no consultant, and at the Standard Tier nothing you have to write down or send in. What there is: make sure the people who would run it — your committee, your volunteers, the stewards on a busy Friday or a festival — know the plan and could carry it out. When the time comes you will also notify the SIA that you are the responsible person; that system is not open yet. For the fuller picture of what you are not on the hook for, see what you do not have to buy.

You have time to get this right

Martyn’s Law is not in force yet. The statutory guidance was published on 15 April 2026, and the government has committed to a minimum 24-month implementation period before the duties apply — so, with Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, April 2027 is the earliest they could come into force. The regulator’s notification system is not open yet either, so there is nothing to file today. The sensible move now is to settle whether you reach 200 from time to time, note who is responsible, and sketch the four procedures with the people who would run them on a busy day — ideally drawn on a plan of the building, so the gaps show up before anyone asks.

Where the definitive answer is

For definitive information about whether your premises or event is within scope and what is required, refer to the current statutory guidance issued under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.