Martyn's Law for mosques, temples, gurdwaras and other places of worship
Places of worship of every faith are treated the same way under Martyn's Law. The 200-person threshold decides whether you're in scope at all, judged on your largest realistic gatherings — major festivals and holy days, big weddings and funerals, community meals — counting everyone present. Once in scope, places of worship are standard tier at any size and never escalate to the enhanced tier, so the duties are to notify the SIA, have four procedures, and brief your people. Below 200, you're likely out of scope. The law is expected to commence in Spring 2027.
Martyn's Law applies to mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, gurdwaras, synagogues and every other place of worship on exactly the same basis as it applies to churches — and on the same basis as it applies to a village hall or a theatre. There is one neutral rule for everyone, and places of worship of every faith sit inside it together. This guide is the counterpart to our guide for churches; the substance is the same, and we've written it so each community can read its own setting into it.
The 200 threshold decides whether a place of worship is in scope; once in scope, every place of worship is standard tier at any size and never escalates to the enhanced tier. A community hall mosque holding 250 and a large gurdwara welcoming 1,000 at Vaisakhi face the same, deliberately simple set of duties. The enhanced tier's heavier requirements don't apply to worship use, however large the building or the gathering.
First: is your place of worship in scope at all?
The 200-person threshold applies to places of worship just as it does to everyone else. The question is whether 200 or more people may reasonably be expected to be present at the same time — and for worship settings the honest answer usually lives in your biggest occasions, not your ordinary week.
Think of your largest realistic gatherings: major festivals and holy days — Eid, Diwali, Vaisakhi, major feast days, the High Holy Days — large weddings and funerals, and regular community meals such as langar at a gurdwara. Count everyone present at once: worshippers, the people leading worship, stewards, kitchen volunteers and helpers. A "180-seat" festival gathering with thirty volunteers serving food is a 210-person occasion.
Many smaller places of worship, whose busiest realistic gathering stays below 200, are out of scope. That's a perfectly ordinary outcome. Assess it honestly, write down how you reached the conclusion, and review it once a year in case your gatherings grow. Our capacity guide sets out the counting method in full, and it applies just as well to worship settings.
The carve-out: standard tier, whatever the size
This is the part worth holding on to. If your place of worship is in scope, it is in the standard tier — and it stays there no matter how large it is. A place of worship never escalates to the enhanced tier, even if many hundreds of people gather at once on your biggest day.
Parliament set this rule for all places of worship together, recognising their open, welcoming nature. The heavier enhanced-tier requirements — compliance documents, public protection measures, a designated senior individual — don't apply to worship use. The same single set of standard-tier duties covers the smallest in-scope prayer hall and the largest festival gathering alike.
If you're in scope: the standard-tier duties
Take a breath — it's less than the headlines suggest. The duties, expected to commence Spring 2027:
- Notify the SIA. The Security Industry Authority is the new regulator. Notification will be free and online; the system is being built now and nothing can be submitted yet.
- Have four workable procedures — evacuation, invacuation (sheltering in place rather than leaving), lockdown and communication — proportionate to your building. The thinking isn't difficult, but it does need doing for your premises, with its own doors, prayer halls, kitchens and assembly points. Full breakdown in our standard tier guide.
- Make sure the people who run the place know them. For worship settings that realistically means whoever leads worship — an imam, granthi, priest or rabbi as relevant — together with the trustees, the committee, the stewards and the regular volunteers who set up, welcome and serve. These are the people who would act.
- Coordinate where premises are shared or nested. If your building is shared with other users, or sits within a larger site, the people responsible should agree how the procedures work together.
No physical security measures are required, and there is nothing to buy at standard tier. Nothing about the law asks you to change the open, welcoming character of worship. The duties are about what your people would do, not about screening who comes in.
Attached halls and community rooms
Halls and community rooms used by the place of worship count toward its use. If festival prayers overflow into an attached hall, or a community meal fills both the worship space and the room next door, apply the 200 test to the premises as a whole — count the people present together, across the building.
Who is the "responsible person"?
The responsible person is whoever has control of the premises in connection with its use — for many places of worship that's the trustees, the management committee or the equivalent governing body, rather than an individual. Identify yours and minute it; it's the anchor for everything else, including the eventual SIA notification. Our guide to the responsible person works through it.
Between now and Spring 2027
- Run the scope question against your largest realistic gatherings, and minute the answer — whichever way it goes.
- If in scope: draft the four procedures, building on existing fire and safety arrangements; brief the people who'd actually be in the building.
- Keep a dated record — decisions, briefings, review dates. Insurers of places of worship are already asking about arrangements at renewal; a record turns that into a quick answer.
- Watch for the SIA's notification system opening nearer commencement.
If your community runs a Christian place of worship, our churches guide covers the same ground with church-specific examples. The rules, and the reassurance, are the same.
Common questions
Does Martyn's Law treat mosques, temples and gurdwaras differently from churches?
No. Places of worship of every faith are treated the same way, on the same neutral basis. The 200-person threshold decides whether a place of worship is in scope, and once in scope every place of worship is standard tier whatever its size. The duties — notify the SIA, four workable procedures, people who know them — are identical.
Is a large mosque, temple, gurdwara or synagogue in the enhanced tier if it holds 800 or more people?
No. Places of worship are standard tier regardless of capacity. Even a building where 800 or more people gather stays in the standard tier and never escalates to the enhanced tier. Parliament recognised the open, welcoming nature of places of worship and set this rule for all of them. The carve-out is a ceiling, not a floor: it doesn't pull a place of worship with fewer than 200 people reasonably expected into scope.
How do we count attendance for festivals like Eid, Diwali or Vaisakhi?
Use your largest realistic gatherings. Count everyone present at the same time on your biggest occasions — major festivals and holy days, large weddings and funerals, and regular community meals such as langar at a gurdwara — including volunteers and helpers, not just worshippers. If 200 or more people may reasonably be expected at the same time, you're in scope.
Does an attached hall or community room count?
Yes. Halls and community rooms used by the place of worship count toward its use. If your gatherings spill into an attached hall, or a community meal fills both spaces, count the people across the premises as a whole when you apply the 200 test.
Start with three minutes
The free scope checker handles the worship rules automatically, whatever your faith. For monthly plain-English updates until commencement, join the countdown list.