The UK National Threat Level has recently been raised to SEVERE, meaning a terrorist attack is considered highly likely. Counter Terrorism Policing has been clear in its public messaging: people should remain “alert but not alarmed.”

That distinction matters. This is not a call for fear or panic, but for preparedness – for organisations, workforces and public-facing sectors to recognise that effective public safety depends on teams knowing what to look for, how to respond, and how to act calmly and consistently when something does not feel right.

For employers responsible for public-facing environments, this means ensuring staff have the awareness and capability to make competent decisions under pressure, whether they work in retail, hospitality, healthcare, transport, events, tourism or other customer-facing settings.

Preparedness, not panic

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (also known as Martyn’s Law) exists because the threat is real and public places have repeatedly been targeted. The Home Office states that since March 2017, the UK has experienced or disrupted a total of 58 terrorist attacks and late-stage plots, highlighting the continued targeting of publicly accessible locations across a wide range of sectors. Against this backdrop, the statutory guidance is intended to strengthen protective security and preparedness across premises and events in scope of the Act.

That is why the public message around the threat level matters so much. “Remain alert but not alarmed” is not passive language; it is a practical instruction. It means people should be observant, informed and ready to act without losing the calm judgement essential during a real incident.

At its core, the Act reflects a whole-of-society approach to public safety and preparedness. Public protection cannot sit solely with security teams, policing or emergency responders. It depends on organisations and frontline staff being prepared, alert and able to respond effectively within their own environments, which – as the guidance suggests – is not only about having procedures on paper, but about ensuring staff receive training, learning and instruction that is:

• Appropriate to their role
• Tailored to their operating environment
• Capable of supporting effective implementation in practice

This shift from documented procedures to practical implementation is critical because real-world incidents rarely unfold neatly or predictably.

After all, preparedness is not about eliminating risk. It is about ensuring teams can respond when it matters most – calmly, confidently and consistently.

Why awareness matters across every public-facing environment

Public-facing organisations have sometimes been guilty of assuming protective security is someone else’s responsibility – something relevant only to major venues, high-profile events or dedicated security teams. But the current threat level, alongside the evidence underpinning the Act, directly challenges that outdated assumption.

Counter Terrorism Policing and MI5 have both highlighted the increasing complexity and breadth of threats facing the UK, driven by Islamist terrorism, Extreme Right-Wing terrorism and state-linked threats. Since the start of 2020, they have disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots and intervened in many hundreds of developing threats.

At the same time, many incidents that threaten public safety are not formally categorised as terrorism but still require exactly the same qualities from organisations and staff: vigilance, situational awareness, confident decision-making, and effective operational response.

That is why the guidance places such emphasis on baseline awareness across all staff and not only those with formal security responsibilities. In practice, frontline employees are often the first people to notice unusual behaviour, identify vulnerabilities or escalate concerns. In busy, high-footfall environments, that awareness can make a critical difference.

The hallmark of effective preparedness

One of the clearest examples of why this matters comes from Philip Moore, one of our expert trainers delivering the Level 3 Award in Counter-Terrorism Protective Security and Preparedness (CTPSaP).

Reflecting on a recent high-profile event, he described how effective planning and prepared personnel prevented what could have become a major incident:

“At a recent very high-profile event, a suspect was identified trying to gain unauthorised access to a secure site. Because of the plan, the attempt was rapidly identified, assessed and prevented. All the different parties and processes worked quickly, effectively and collaboratively. No time was lost. Otherwise, the person would have got in.”

He continued:

“At best, the result would have been a major embarrassment and the loss of public confidence. At worst, it could have led to multiple deaths.”

Perhaps most importantly, he added:

“Very often the hallmark of a successful plan is that you know something happened, but the public don’t.”

That is the reality of effective preparedness. The strongest public safety outcomes are often the incidents that never fully materialise because alert staff, clear procedures and coordinated responses prevented escalation before harm occurred.

Customer experience and public safety are not separate priorities

There is also an important connection between preparedness and customer-facing capability that is often overlooked.

People 1st International has decades of experience supporting workforce development across hospitality, retail, tourism, travel and events, including delivery of WorldHost customer service training for major national events such as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Large-scale public events like these depend on more than logistics and operations. They rely on staff who can:

• Remain alert in high-footfall environments
• Engage positively with the public
• Identify concerns early
• Respond calmly under pressure

In reality, excellent customer experience and effective public safety preparedness often rely on the same underlying workforce capabilities: awareness, communication, judgement, consistency, and confidence in responding appropriately.

A whole-of-society approach to public safety requires organisations to think about preparedness across all fronts – not only through security measures, but through workforce capability, culture and operational readiness.

Why the National Occupational Standards for Resilience and Emergencies matter

Through our parent organisation, The Workforce Development Trust, we are the guardians of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Resilience and Emergencies – the nationally recognised standards that define the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and major incidents.

This is particularly significant in the context of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, because the statutory guidance places strong emphasis on practical capability, role-appropriate learning and preparedness embedded across organisations – not isolated within security teams.

Developed in partnership with the UK Resilience Academy, the NOS framework supports exactly this approach by helping organisations build consistent, real-world capability across roles, sectors and operating environments.

At a time when the UK threat level is SEVERE, preparedness depends not only on procedures, but on people having the competence and confidence to respond effectively under pressure.

Building practical capability across sectors

That is also why People 1st International, Skills for Justice and Skills for Health are working together to support organisations in building practical, role-specific capability across public-facing sectors.

Each organisation brings distinct but complementary expertise:

• People 1st International – the UK Sector Skills Council for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism – bringing extensive experience across a variety of customer-facing sectors
• Skills for Justice – the UK Sector Skills Council for Justice, community safety, fire and rescue, and central and local government – bringing expertise in public safety, resilience and protective services
• Skills for Health – the UK Sector Skills Council for Health – bringing deep understanding of healthcare workforce capability and operational environments

Together, this supports a more joined-up approach to preparedness – one that reflects the operational realities, workforce pressures and customer-facing nature of different environments. Because, as we’ve established, preparedness is not solely a policing or security issue; it’s a workforce issue. It’s about ensuring people across sectors understand what risks may look like, how procedures operate in practice, and how to respond effectively and confidently in the environments they work within every day.

What organisations should be asking now

With the threat level now at SEVERE, organisations should not only be focusing on compliance deadlines or minimum requirements. They should be identifying what level of awareness all staff need; which roles require deeper, applied capability; and how their procedures translate into real-world action. They need to be evaluating whether staff are prepared to respond consistently under pressure and if any current training reflects their actual operating environment.

The statutory guidance is clear that preparedness must be proportionate, practical and tailored to role and environment, and building that capability takes time.

Supporting organisations to strengthen public safety capability

People 1st International, Skills for Justice and Skills for Health work together to support organisations in strengthening public safety capability across public-facing sectors.

Our approach reflects the principle set out within the statutory guidance: that learning should be appropriate to role, tailored to environment, and support effective implementation in practice.

This includes:

• Sector-specific Threat Awareness eLearning

Foundational online learning designed to build consistent baseline awareness across the workforce, tailored to the realities of sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, retail, events and facilities.

• Level 3 Award in Counter-Terrorism Protective Security and Preparedness (CTPSaP)

Structured, applied learning designed to support those with responsibilities for protective security, preparedness and operational response – including Responsible Persons and Responsible Officers within qualifying premises and events.

• Bespoke organisational learning solutions

Tailored training – online, in-person, or blended – designed around your operating environment, workforce roles and procedures, supporting organisations to strengthen capability at the intersection of risk preparedness, operational response and customer experience.

Preparedness starts and ends with people

The increase in the national threat level is a reminder that public safety preparedness cannot be treated as theoretical or distant.

The message from Counter Terrorism Policing remains clear: remain alert, but not alarmed.

For organisations, that means moving beyond policies and procedures alone to build workforces that are prepared, aware and capable of responding effectively in the moments that matter most.

Because while good planning matters, preparedness ultimately depends on people – informed, trained and prepared staff who can make effective decisions under pressure and respond calmly and consistently in real-world situations.

That is why a whole-of-society approach to public safety ultimately depends on a whole-workforce approach to preparedness.