Policy paper

Terrorism (protection of premises) Act 2025: Responsible person factsheet

Published 3 April 2025

This factsheet explains who is responsible for certain premises and events under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act ^{[footnote 1]}, and the role of that person, hereafter referred to as the “responsible person”. Such a person may be an individual but, it is anticipated, will typically be a company or other organisation.

The responsible person for qualifying premises ​

For qualifying premises, the responsible person is the person who has control of the premises in connection with their Schedule 1 use (e.g. the use of a venue as a sports ground or a hotel). ​The responsible person will usually be the premises operator, e.g. if a person leases a building for retail use as a shop and is in control of the building for that use, they will be the responsible person.

Where there is more than one Schedule 1 use (e.g. a church that also has a creche), the relevant person will be the person in control of the premises in connection with whichever of the Schedule 1 uses is the principal use.

Further information on which premises are in scope of the Act can be found in the scope (premises) factsheet.

The responsible person for qualifying events

For qualifying events, the responsible person is the person who has control of the premises for the purposes of the event. The circumstances of the event will need to be considered to determine who the responsible person is. For example, if a concert is to be held in a park and the company putting on the event takes control of an area of the park and has control of that area for the purposes of that concert, the company putting on the event will be the responsible person. Conversely, if a stately home puts on a concert in its grounds and maintains control of the site of the concert for the purposes of that event, the stately home will be the responsible person. This would be the case even if the stately home contracted organisations to do aspects of the event (e.g. to provide door security or ticketing).  

Further information on which events are in scope of the Act can be found in the scope (events) factsheet

Requirements

The responsible person must ensure that the requirements of the Act are met, they cannot delegate their legal responsibility even if they delegate some tasks or hire out their venue (but retain relevant control). Further information on the requirements for standard duty premises can be found in the standard duty requirements factsheet. Information on requirements for enhanced duty premises and qualifying events can be found in the enhanced duty requirements factsheet. Qualifying events are treated in line with the enhanced tier; there is no standard tier for qualifying events.

Co-ordination

If more than one person (including more than one company or organisation) is responsible for qualifying premises or a qualifying event, they must, so far as is reasonably practicable, co-ordinate with each other in complying with the Act’s requirements.

If qualifying premises form part of other qualifying premises, the responsible persons must, so far as is reasonably practicable, co-ordinate in complying with the Act’s requirements.

The type of co-ordination required will depend on the particular circumstances, but it is expected that responsible persons will work together to achieve effective outcomes. Two examples of co-ordination are outlined below,  

1. In a scenario where there are two responsible persons for single qualifying premises or a qualifying event, they should coordinate, as far as is reasonably practicable, to comply. They both remain individually responsible for their compliance.

2. In a scenario where qualifying premises form part of other qualifying premises. For example, a department store within a shopping centre. The department store and the shopping centre must, as far as reasonably practicable, co-ordinate as they individually comply with the requirements.

The co-ordination requirements only apply to premises that fall within scope of the Act.

Co-operation

If a person (“P”) has, to any extent, control of enhanced duty premises or premises at which a qualifying event is to be held but is not the responsible person for the enhanced duty premises or the event (“R”), the co-operation requirement will apply. This means that P must, so far as is reasonably practicable, co-operate with R for the purposes of R complying with the Act.

The co-operation requirement will help to remove potential obstacles to the responsible person implementing appropriate measures. For example,

1. Where the responsible person has identified that implementing appropriate public protection measures would require structural changes to the building (e.g. to put in or move a door) but their lease prevents such a change, the co-operation requirement will require the freeholder to consider this request and cooperate so far as is reasonably practicable (but this does not mean that the freeholder would need to automatically consent to all such requests, they must co-operate so far is as is reasonably practicable).

2. Where the responsible person has identified the need to implement certain mitigations to meet their legal obligations under the Act and one of the measures requires freeholder permission. Their lease also states that they (the freeholder) should contribute a certain percentage of costs to ensure premises remain fit for purpose. The freeholder is obliged to consider such requests to a reasonably practicable level.

The co-operation requirement requires co-operation so far as is reasonably practicable. An assessment of all relevant factors, including contracts and leases, will be required. If there is a dispute, the tribunal may be asked to determine whether a person is a responsible person or whether a person is required to co-operate with a responsible person

Footnotes

1. The Act was granted Royal Assent on 3 April but these requirements have not yet been commenced. This means that they are not yet in force and so do not need to be complied with until brought into force by regulations. ↩