Martyn's Law and Public Healthcare estates . What Chairs and DoFs need to answer
White paper 2 of 5 . For Public Healthcare Chairs, DoFs and Estates Directors
Executive summary
Martyn's Law received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 and statutory guidance for responsible persons followed in April 2026. The Act comes into force in April 2027, so the two-year clock is now running. Hospitals are in scope by name and enhanced-tier duties apply where reasonably expected occupancy is eight hundred or more, which captures almost every acute organisation site. The paper sets out what an organisation needs in place by April 2027, why the compliance burden lands unevenly across estates and soft-FM and how a governed partner converts the Act from a compliance line into a governance advantage.
The Act is a governance instrument, not a security procurement. The board is on the hook, not the estates team.
What is inside
- What the Act actually requires
- Why the compliance burden lands on soft-FM
- Where organisations are already exposed
- What a governed soft-FM partner brings
- Case reference. CS-041 first-outsourcing readiness
- What a board needs to answer by December 2026
Full paper
Key numbers
- 3 Apr 2025
- Royal Assent
- Apr 2026
- Statutory guidance published
- Apr 2027
- Expected commencement
- 800+
- Enhanced-tier occupancy threshold
Share
Cleared for external sharing with an organisation colleague.
Trellis Meriden Health and Care
Part of the Governed First-Outsourcing knowledge bank. Verified 30 August 2026.