Does it apply to your club?
The Act covers premises that are a building, or a building and other land, mainly used for a Schedule 1 use, where it is reasonable to expect 200 or more people may be present at the same time, from time to time (s.2(2)).
For most clubs the question is the clubhouse: a bar, function room or changing rooms used for "entertainment, leisure or recreation" (Sch 1 para 3). Being members-only doesn't take you out of scope. Limiting access to members and their guests still counts as use by visiting members of the public (Sch 1 para 18).
Open pitches, parks and recreation grounds with no checks on who comes in (no tickets, payment or membership checks) are excluded (Sch 2 para 3). Measures used only for particular events don't count against that exclusion. Grounds that are designated sports grounds have their own rules (Sch 1 para 4). If you charge entry at the gate every match, or your ground is designated, take advice.
Count everyone who might be in the clubhouse at its busiest regular time, including bar staff and volunteers: finals day, a presentation evening, a big match on the screen.
Check your clubhouse in two minutes with our free scope checker.
Who is responsible?
Whoever has control of the premises (s.4(1)). For many clubs that's the committee. If the clubhouse is leased from a council or school, control may be shared, and each can be responsible and act jointly (s.4(4)).
What you have to do (Standard Tier)
So far as is reasonably practicable, have appropriate procedures for evacuation, invacuation (moving people to a safer place inside), lockdown and communication if there is reason to suspect an act of terrorism is happening or about to happen nearby (s.5). Make sure the people who would carry them out are informed and, where appropriate, trained, and notify the SIA within three months of the duties starting, using its free service (Notification Requirements Regulations 2026). The notification asks for the most people you expect at once and how you worked that out, so keep a note of your counting. No physical alterations are required at Standard Tier.
What the four procedures might look like at a club
Examples to help you think, not legal requirements:
- Evacuation: routes out of the clubhouse, including onto the pitch side away from the car park and road.
- Invacuation: changing rooms or a function room that can be closed off, with a rough idea of how many people each holds.
- Lockdown: who locks the clubhouse doors and the gate, and how you stop people wandering back in from the pitch.
- Communication: the bar PA or a raised voice, a WhatsApp group for volunteers on duty, and who calls 999.
Briefing volunteers
Rotas change every week. Make the briefing part of the bar or match-day volunteer handover, and keep a simple record of who has had it.
Checklist
- Check whether the clubhouse is in scope and keep a dated note of your reasoning
- Agree who is responsible: committee, landlord, or both
- Write short procedures for the four areas
- Brief bar and match-day volunteers, and record it
- Practise once a season and note what you'd change
- Write down how you worked out your maximum number of people (for example seats plus standing room, staff and volunteers)
- Notify the SIA within three months of the duties starting (it is free)
- Review once a year, at the AGM