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One duty, repeated across every building you hold
A council can be the responsible person for a large and varied portfolio of qualifying premises, and for the events it runs in its own parks and streets. The duty is the same at each one, and so is the question a member will ask at scrutiny: how does the authority stand, across all of it?
Commencement of the duty is expected in spring 2027. Licences and assessments open October 2026.
Where a council sits
The duty comes from the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 and falls on the responsible person at each premises. The attendance thresholds mean much of what a council holds is likely to sit at standard duty, with the larger venues and some events reaching enhanced duty. Both have to be answered, and the authority needs to be able to explain how it reached the tier at each one.
Premises the council holds
- Leisure centres and swimming pools
- Libraries, museums and visitor centres
- Town halls, civic suites and community centres
- Theatres and concert halls run in-house
Events the council runs
- Markets and street fairs
- Festivals and civic events in parks and squares
- Firework displays and seasonal events
- Alongside these, the Safety Advisory Group sees plans from organisers who hold the duty in their own right
The cost is the repetition
This duty rarely costs much at any single building. It costs because the work is done at every building, to a different standard each time. Four things make it expensive across a portfolio.
- 1The same question at every buildingEach building answers in its own way, on its own spreadsheet, once a leisure centre manager and a library manager have each had a go
- 2Answers that cannot be comparedWhen every answer arrives in a different format there is a folder, and somebody has to read all of it before scrutiny
- 3An assessment fee at every doorBringing an assessor to every qualifying premises would settle the question properly, at a cost that is hard to justify across a whole portfolio
- 4Nothing dated to point at laterSection 27(5) makes proof of having acted in accordance with the guidance useful to you. A dated record of what was in place is that proof. An undated spreadsheet is a weaker one
Two routes, designed to be used together
Licence the tool across the portfolio, and commission assessment at the flagship venues and the large events, where a judgement made outside the authority is worth paying for.
Licence the assessment tool
- ForEvery building you hold
- WhoYour own officers, in the same tool Westmark assessors use, against the same twenty controls
- FeeOne annual licence for the authority, banded by the number of premises you hold, from £7,500 a year excluding VAT. Unlimited buildings inside the band
- StandingYour own work, dated against a published standard and exportable for the risk register or a scrutiny paper
Commission an assessment
- ForThe flagship venues and the large events
- WhoA Westmark assessor, on site, with a second person reviewing the record before anything is issued
- FeeQuoted per premises or per event, in writing, before the Assessment Agreement is accepted
- StandingA positive outcome goes on the public register, where anyone can verify it
What the licence covers
One fee covers every officer who needs an account and every building you choose to assess. The bands are set by the number of qualifying premises you hold, and an approximate count is enough to place you.
Included in the fee
- The assessment tool, opened by your officers under their own accounts
- Unlimited premises. Nothing in the licence counts them
- The published standard and control set, in full
- A dated record for each premises, held against the standard version it was made under
- Officer training and a calibration session, delivered by a separate training organisation within the scheme, so that two officers reach the same answer on the same evidence
- Updates as the standard moves, including the changes that follow the Security Industry Authority's final guidance
- A named contact for the questions that arrive once officers are using it day to day
Annual fee by band
- Band A, up to 25 premises
- From £7,500
- Band B, 26 to 75
- From £10,500
- Band C, 76 to 200
- From £15,500
- Band D, over 200
- Quoted
Fees are annual and exclude VAT. On a band boundary you are quoted the lower band. The figure is quoted in writing before anything is signed and holds for the licence year.
How it starts
- You
Tell us roughly how many premises you hold
An approximate number places you in a band. Nothing needs to be exact at this stage.
- Westmark and your officers
See it run against one of your own buildings
Half an hour, online or in the room, with the officers who would use it. Free, with nothing to sign afterwards.
- Westmark, then the training organisation
Licence and train
The licence runs for a year from issue. Officer training and the calibration session are arranged in the same window.
- Your officers
Work through the buildings at your own pace
The position across the portfolio is visible from the first building onwards, so a scrutiny paper can be written before the last one is done.
Straight answers
- Compliance stays the authority's own judgement. A licence gives you a consistent method, a published control set to work against, and a dated record of what you assessed and what you found
- The tool carries Westmark's standing alone. The Act creates no approval scheme for assessment tools, so treat any claim of approval by the Security Industry Authority, the Home Office or a police force with care and ask who is said to have given it
- The Mark comes only from a Westmark assessment. An assessment your own officers carry out is your own work. The Protected Premises Mark is the result of an assessment carried out by a Westmark assessor and reviewed by a second one
- Training and assessment are kept apart. Officer training and calibration are delivered by a separate organisation under the scheme rules, so Westmark assesses work it took no hand in preparing
Getting ready
Your officers can carry the portfolio with the tool, the training and the calibration behind them. Where a directorate wants advice as well, Westmark introduces a Licensed Partner: a consultancy Westmark has approved, whose consultants work with your officers and venue managers so the procedures and training records belong to the authority and fit each building as it is actually run. A partner stands aside from any assessment, and your assessor is always independent of your partner.
Ask us to introduce a partnerHow the partner arrangement works
Documents for councils
Work out where the authority stands, building by building
Tell us roughly how many premises you hold and we will come back with a band and a demonstration date.