Review your virtual experience for Martyn's Law

Why review your virtual experience?

As institutions prepare for Martyn's Law, many are asking whether their virtual experience needs reviewing too.

A review gives you confidence that the right people have considered what is publicly available, assessed whether any changes are needed, and documented those decisions. In many cases, that review will result in very few changes, helping you balance your security responsibilities without compromising the experience prospective students rely on.

Important notice

This guidance is designed to help you consider how your Vepple experience fits within your wider Martyn's Law responsibilities.

Revolution Viewing Ltd, trading as Vepple, hasn’t sought formal legal advice in preparing this guidance. You may find it helpful to read it alongside your own legal advice, security policies, risk assessments and any official guidance relating to the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.

We review this guidance regularly to keep it aligned with changes in legislation, official guidance and best practice.

What good looks like

Your virtual experience should continue doing what it does best: helping prospective students picture themselves on campus.

A review gives colleagues responsible for security confidence that your publicly available content has been considered, assessed and, where appropriate, updated.

A great review will probably leave your Vepple largely untouched. If you end up removing huge sections, you risk stripping away the visual immersion and emotional hooks that prospective students rely on to choose your university.

Principles

The Act places duties on the organisation responsible for the premises or event, so decisions about risk, security measures and what counts as sensitive information can only be made by you.

Martyn's Law doesn’t apply directly to the Vepple platform. However, your virtual experience is one part of your wider digital estate, so it's sensible to consider it alongside your other public-facing content. This guide is designed to help you do exactly that.

Here are some important points to remember:

• Vepple provides the platform, but responsibility for compliance sits with you
• The Act applies to individual premises rather than the institution as a whole
• Focus on what your prospective students need to make informed decisions
• Reviews are important and this shouldn’t be a one-off exercise 

Practical recommendations

Before you begin, make sure the right internal stakeholders are involved in the review.

Bringing together colleagues responsible for areas such as security, estates or compliance as well as marketing and student recruitment helps ensure decisions are informed by the right expertise while balancing security considerations with the experience prospective students expect.

As you review your virtual experience, there are a few areas that are often worth a second look.

These might include:

• Security control rooms and monitoring facilities
• CCTV monitoring stations
• Alarm panels and access control systems
• Security office locations
• Staff-only operational areas
• Plant rooms and critical infrastructure
• Detailed views of security procedures or equipment
• Areas a visitor wouldn't normally be able to access

This isn't a checklist of content that should automatically be removed.

Instead, think of it as a starting point for discussion with the colleagues responsible for security. The right approach will depend on your own risk assessment, policies and the context of each location.

Where Vepple can help:

Reviewing your virtual experience is one thing. Updating it is another.

If your review flags content that needs tweaking, our team can handle the heavy lifting so your recruitment momentum doesn't stall. We can quickly help you by: 

• Removing security infrastructure from 360 Panoramas and photography, such as CCTV cameras, alarm panels, access control equipment or signage

• Removing fire, emergency or operational information you consider sensitive
• Removing specific scenes, such as plant rooms or staff-only areas
• Updating navigation routes within the Explore by Map module or Event Mapping and Session Wayfinding feature of On-Campus Events module
• Removing labels or points of interest

Speak to your Customer Success Manager for a tailored quotation. Remember, most institutions will find their review results in few or no changes.

Common mistakes

Treating the virtual experience as the compliance exercise. Your virtual experience is only one part of a much broader approach that includes policies, procedures, training and emergency planning.

Removing content pre-emptively. Removing every 360 Panorama because it includes a security-related poster or CCTV camera is unlikely to meaningfully reduce risk, but it could reduce the value of your virtual experience. Make proportionate decisions, and where changes are needed, Vepple can help.

Reviewing once and considering it closed. Your estate, your security measures and your content will all evolve over time. Make sure that reviews are part of your ongoing content governance.

Amending the virtual experience but forgetting it’s live elsewhere. Updating your virtual experience while leaving the same view on your website, YouTube or social media can undermine the work you've done. Review your wider digital estate to make sure your decisions are applied consistently.

Don't let compliance updates slow down your student recruitment. If your review uncovers anything that needs amending, our team is on hand to make those updates quickly and seamlessly. Contact your Customer Success Manager or reach out to support@vepple.com