We only occasionally have big events — are we covered?
In short
A one-off big event doesn't push your premises into the enhanced tier — but a big event that happens again and again, even just once a year, can. The difference is whether you'd reasonably expect it to happen again, not how many times it's happened so far.
Key points
A genuine one-off of 800 or more — something that couldn't reasonably have been anticipated and isn't expected to recur — doesn't make your premises enhanced tier.
An event of 800 or more that recurs "from time to time" — the guidance gives "once a year" as its own example — does make the premises enhanced tier, unless a carve-out use applies.
Places of worship, childcare and school premises keep their standard-tier protection even through a recurring 800-plus event.
Hiring your premises out to someone else for the event usually doesn't move the premises itself into the enhanced tier either way, though the hirer may pick up duties of their own for the event.
An individual event being "in scope" in its own right is a different question from your premises' own tier, and this product covers the premises question only.
One-off versus recurring: why the difference matters
The statutory guidance draws a sharp line. A one-off event that attracts 800 or more people on a single occasion "would not result in the premises becoming enhanced tier premises" — your everyday, ordinary number is what decides your tier, and a single unrepeatable surge doesn't change it. But where it's reasonable to expect that 800 or more will be present again "from time to time" — even on a pattern as infrequent as once a year — the guidance says plainly that "the premises will qualify in the enhanced tier". Its own example is a nightclub that reaches 800-plus on five or six nights a year; that pattern is enough to tip it into the enhanced tier, because it's predictable and recurring, not because it's frequent.
The practical test is the one you'd use honestly with a friend: has this happened before, and would you genuinely expect it to happen again? "We sold out for the first time last month and hope to repeat it" is different, in law, from "it was our 800th anniversary and there won't be another one".
Carved-out uses are protected from this too
If your premises is a place of worship, a childcare setting, or a primary, secondary or further education institution, a recurring 800-plus event doesn't move you to the enhanced tier, because the Act's numerical thresholds are expressly subject to those carve-outs. A church with a popular annual concert series, or a school that lets its fields out for a festival every summer, stays standard tier on the strength of its ordinary use, however large and however regular those events are — see our guides on churches and on schools and nurseries for the detail.
Hiring the premises out for the event
Where the big event is actually run by someone hiring your premises — a private company putting on a one-off fundraiser, say — the hirer can end up responsible for the event itself if it's large and ticketed enough to count separately under the Act. That doesn't usually change your premises' own tier, and you remain responsible for your premises the rest of the time. Our guide on hiring out the hall covers who's responsible in more detail.
Needs a closer look
Whether a particular event is in scope in its own right is a separate legal question from your premises' tier, and this product does not assess it.
There is a larger uncertainty too, and it is worth saying plainly. Section 3(1)(e) requires a qualifying event to have measures controlling access, and whether a village hall's once-a-year 850-person beer festival meets that condition — and so whether 5.36 genuinely tips the hall into the enhanced tier — is not settled by anything published. The rule above is what the guidance and section 2(4) say; how it lands on your event is a question for an adviser, and the consequence is large, because the enhanced tier is outside what this product covers. If an annual event of yours approaches 800, this needs a closer look — check your scope, and take advice on the event separately.
Common questions
- We had one unexpectedly huge turnout last year — are we enhanced tier now?
Not on the strength of one unexpected occasion alone, provided you genuinely don't expect it to happen again. If you do expect to repeat it, that's different — see the recurring test above.
- Does "from time to time" mean it has to happen every year?
No. The guidance's own example is five or six times a year; what matters is predictability and genuine expectation of recurrence, not a fixed minimum number of occasions.
- If we're a village hall and a touring show hires us for one big ticketed night, is that our problem or theirs?
Usually theirs, for that event — hiring premises out doesn't usually move the ongoing responsibility for the premises itself, though the organisation running a large enough ticketed event can pick up duties of its own for it. Check your scope if you're not sure.
Check your building, free
Answer a few questions about who uses your building and how many people could be there at once. We’ll tell you plainly whether Martyn’s Law applies, and why.
Sources
Last reviewed 2 November 2026, against the statutory guidance of 15 April 2026 (corrected 6 August 2026).