The bombing at the Ariana Grande Concert in 2017 sent shockwaves around the whole concert and events industry that something so devastating could happen to such innocent people. The resulting public inquiry made significant recommendations on placing a Protect Duty on the industry to ensure that when the public attend venues and events they can rely on the fact that premises owners and event organisers have made every effort to keep them safe. Government responded quickly to the Public Inquiry recommendations by consulting on the introduction of a Protect Duty in 2021 and responded to the consultation exercise in early 2022 with a commitment to bringing in legislation.

This legislation will have far reaching implications on the Security and Licensing Industry, affecting not just venues like restaurants and bars, theatres and concert venues but also open spaces like high streets and parks and even beaches. The Protect Duty will mean that business owners, event organisers and land owners will need to have appropriate physical security and well-established systems that will assess any terror threats to their operations, have plans in place to mitigate those risks any also make sure that all staff involved are trained to spot any possible terror threat and be able to act upon it before anything more catastrophic happens.



Whilst the legislation has not yet been introduced SL Consultants has been working with different organisations from Security Contractors on how they train their staff, to Event Organisers planning and assessing risk to even Local Councils who rent out their land for major concerts. Many are taking the view that they should be embracing the Protect Duty now and developing a culture of normal practice now rather than wait until they have to react to new legislation.

SL Consultants has helped clients draft new Security Planning Policies, programmes of training for staff and have carried out site assessments to help organisations understand the risks and put measures in place to keep everyone safe.