Over the last few weeks, Protect Duty has started to feel a bit more tangible.

The government has now published its guidance for the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, and for many people across events, venues and public spaces, it’s the first time it’s felt like something you can properly sit down with and work through.

What’s interesting is that, while there’s still time before it’s fully in force, the direction of travel is much clearer now. This isn’t about reacting to a specific threat or putting something in place just in case. It’s about building a level of preparedness into how spaces are planned and operated as a matter of course.

That shift is quite a big one. From what we’re seeing, most organisations already understand the importance of safety and security. The challenge isn’t intent. It’s translating something like Protect Duty into real, day to day environments. How it actually shows up on site, with real people, real movement and all the small variables that come with it.

The guidance talks a lot about understanding how people move through a space, thinking carefully about vulnerabilities, and taking proportionate steps to reduce risk. On paper, that sounds straightforward. In reality, it raises a lot of practical questions.

• What does proportionate look like for your site?
• Where are the points of pressure likely to be?
• How do vehicles and pedestrians interact across the day, not just at peak moments?

What’s helpful in the latest guidance is that it gives a clearer sense of where to start. Not in a theoretical way, but in terms of the areas you should begin looking at now.

One of the first is having a proper understanding of your space in use. Not just plans or drawings, but how it actually behaves when people arrive, queue, move and leave. Where natural pinch points form, where visibility drops off, where access starts to blur between different groups.

There is also a clear emphasis on simple, effective procedures. Knowing what should happen if something changes, how teams communicate, and how quickly decisions can be made. In many cases, this is less about introducing something new and more about tightening what already exists so it works under pressure.

Training and awareness is another theme that comes through strongly. Making sure that the people on the ground understand the role they play, not just from a security point of view, but in how they observe, respond and communicate. That cultural shift is a big part of what Protect Duty is trying to achieve.

And then there is the idea of proportionality, which is where a lot of people are understandably pausing. The guidance is clear that measures should reflect the nature of the space and the level of risk, but translating that into something practical takes a bit of experience. It’s not about over engineering. It’s about making considered decisions that hold up in a live environment.

All of this points towards a more joined up way of thinking. Less about individual measures in isolation, more about how everything connects. Arrival, access, communication, staffing, layout. The full picture of how a space behaves once people start moving through it.

Because Protect Duty doesn’t really live in a policy document. It lives in those interactions.

We’ve been working with a number of venues and organisers to start making sense of this in a practical way. Not jumping straight to solutions, but taking the time to understand how their spaces actually operate, where the friction points are, and where small changes can make a meaningful difference. Often, it’s not about doing more. It’s about joining things up more effectively.

There is still a window to prepare, which is helpful. But it’s also a good opportunity to get ahead of it, rather than waiting for it to become a compliance exercise.

If you’re starting to look at what Protect Duty means for your space, it’s worth having those early conversations now. Not to solve everything in one go, but to begin shaping an approach that will work in the real world.

Five things you can do now to be ready for Protect Duty

• Spend time observing your space in use, not just on a plan. Look at how people actually arrive, queue, move and leave

• Map out where pressure builds. Entry points, crossings between vehicles and pedestrians, and moments where visibility or control drops

• Review how your team communicates during live operations. Are decisions clear, and can they be made quickly if something changes

• Check how confident your staff feel in their role. Awareness and understanding on the ground will make a big difference

• Take a step back and look at how everything connects. Layout, access, staffing and communication should all support each other, not operate in isolation

If you need guidance we’re here to help- www.epteam.co.uk