Does Martyn's Law apply to care homes?

The guidance does not call care homes in or out by name — so you can argue it either way. But the honest reading is that if you provide health care, you are a qualifying use, and whether you’re actually in scope then comes down to numbers. For most single homes the numbers fall short; for larger homes and care villages they don’t. And with residents who can’t simply walk out of the building, the real question isn’t whether you must — it’s why you wouldn’t want to be ready.

The short version

• Nothing in the Act or guidance explicitly puts care homes in or out — but “health care” is a qualifying use, and it’s defined broadly: all forms of health care, physical or mental, including ancillary care.
• If your home provides health care — nursing, and in practice most residential care too — the use question most likely points to yes. There is no care-home carve-out, and health care does not get the lighter treatment that worship, childcare and schools get.
• So scope turns on numbers: are 200 or more people — residents, all staff on shift, visitors and contractors — reasonably expected at the same time, from time to time? 200–799 is Standard tier, 800+ Enhanced.
• Most single homes sit under 200 at once and fall out on the numbers. Large homes, care or retirement villages and big multi-unit sites can reach it — and those are in.
• It’s not in force yet (commencement expected spring 2027 at the earliest), which is time to get ready calmly rather than against a deadline.

Is a care home in scope? You can argue it both ways

Be straight about this: the statutory guidance lists the categories of premises that are caught, and it does not spell out, one way or the other, where a care home sits. So there is room to argue it. The text that matters is the Act itself, which makes the qualifying use “use as a hospital or for the provision of health care” and defines health care as “all forms of health care provided to individuals, whether relating to physical or mental health, and including ancillary care”. That is deliberately wide — the hospitals and GP surgeries you see named in the guidance are examples, not the boundary.

Read against that, a nursing home is squarely providing health care, and a residential home that handles medication, monitors conditions and supports residents’ physical and mental health is very likely providing it too. There is no exclusion for care settings, and no “stays in Standard tier whatever the size” concession of the kind places of worship and schools enjoy. The most defensible position is that, on use alone, a care home that provides health care most likely qualifies.

Then it comes down to the numbers

Being a qualifying use doesn’t put you in scope on its own — the threshold does. A premises is caught if it is reasonably expected that 200 or more people may be present at the same time, from time to time. Count everyone at the peak, not an average day: residents, every member of staff on shift, visitors, volunteers and contractors.

For a typical 40–to–60–bed home that figure stays comfortably below 200, even on a busy visiting afternoon, and you would most likely conclude you are out of scope — worth writing down with your reasoning. But a large home, a care or retirement village, or a site with several units and shared facilities can realistically reach 200 people at once, and the very largest could approach the 800 Enhanced line. If that could be you, the honest answer is that you are probably in, at the Standard tier, with no lighter touch for being a care provider. Our guide How to work out if you reach 200 walks through the count.

Why wouldn’t you be ready anyway?

Here is the thing that makes care homes different from a shop debating whether it clears 200. Your residents often cannot evacuate quickly, or at all without help. In an emergency the instinct to get everyone outside can be exactly the wrong one — sometimes the safer move is to bring people to a protected part of the building (invacuation) and secure it. Knowing in advance how you would do that, how staff would raise the alarm and pass clear instructions, and who makes the call, is simply good care — and it is what families, commissioners and CQC would expect to see.

So even if your numbers leave you just outside the letter of the law, the preparation is worth doing on its own merits. The downside of having nothing written down is real; the cost of being ready is small. Given the people in your care, the sensible question isn’t “do we have to?” — it’s “why wouldn’t we?”

The simple way to be covered either side of the line

This is exactly what the Martyn’s Law Workbook is for. It takes the argument off your plate: a short, free check confirms whether you are in scope and which tier applies, and if you are — or if you simply decide to prepare anyway — it walks you through each step in plain English and produces the plans your staff can use and a dated record you can show. You don’t need a security background, and you don’t need to resolve the “in or out” debate first. Either way, you come out covered.

You have time

Martyn’s Law is not in force yet. The statutory guidance was published on 15 April 2026, and commencement is expected in spring 2027 at the earliest, after a minimum 24-month implementation period. Whichever side of the line you land, now is the time to settle your position and, if it makes sense, get the plans in place calmly.

Where the definitive answer is

The guidance does not resolve the care-home question explicitly, so if your position is finely balanced it is worth taking advice. For definitive information about whether your premises are within scope and what is required, refer to the current statutory guidance issued under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.