None Of Us Do This Alone

By Danni Grant · 20 August 2026

For a significant part of my career in counter terrorism, I worked in a relatively siloed leadership environment.

There were good reasons for that. I was DV vetted and working in a highly sensitive environment. The work was serious, information was necessarily tightly held, the circles were often small, and you became used to operating within quite defined boundaries.

One of the biggest changes for me over recent years has been learning to work differently.

I have deliberately built a much more collaborative network around me — people and organisations with different expertise, different experiences and, importantly, people who are prepared to challenge my thinking as well as support it.

Some of those people have become a genuine support network. Not just contacts. Not just LinkedIn connections. People who pick up the phone, tell me the truth, share what they know, and back me when it counts.

A lot of those people are women working in security. I want to say that plainly, because it matters. Women in this sector are still spread thinly, and it is easy to feel like the only one in the room.

But I have found a strong and generous network of women in protective security who show up for each other. I would not be doing this job as well without them. Shoutout to WiS.

And actually, that experience has changed my thinking more broadly.

Working in isolation only gets you so far.

The same is true across this market

I am not going to sit here and critique other commercial offers relating to Martyn’s Law. That’s not my place, and it doesn’t help anyone trying to get compliant.

What I will say is this: there are genuinely excellent small businesses providing solutions to this market. Some of them deserve far more recognition than they get.

Within GCG, we have taken real time, more than most people probably realise, working out how we communicate and who we choose to partner with. We’ve thought about it sector by sector, and capability by capability.

We’re deliberately building an ecosystem around Martyn’s Law and protective security: legal and regulatory expertise, operational counter terrorism expertise, technology, risk and security capability, and specialist delivery partners, all working together so clients can move from understanding the legislation into actually implementing it.

When we bring a new partner into that ecosystem, I don’t just want to tell you they exist. I want to explain why the partnership matters, show you what we’re actually doing together, and back it up with evidence as we go.

There’s some exciting news to share on that front in the coming weeks, and it will follow that shape rather than a one-off headline.

Values first, profit second

For me, it comes down to this: does a business genuinely align with our values, and what do they actually offer to help other businesses get compliant? That matters more than turning a profit.

That’s the difference between informing, educating, and demonstrating what good looks like, and pushing product at people who are already anxious about getting this right.

I have worked with charities to give free advice. I have worked with BIDs to help shape their thinking, at no charge. Not because it made commercial sense on paper, but because it was the right thing to do.

Not every commercial business is chasing a fast buck. It is entirely possible to make money and keep your integrity intact through the whole implementation process. I have seen it done properly. I try to do it myself.

Collaboration beyond commercial partners

The same principle applies further up the chain, with the key associations, the regulator, Protect UK and the Home Office.

Like many, I am now working directly with organisations as they move from understanding Martyn’s Law into operational implementation.

And that inevitably raises questions.

Not theoretical ones, but the practical questions that emerge when you start applying the legislation and statutory guidance across real premises, real workforces and complex operating environments.

I had one of those recently while working with a hospital trust. I hit a genuine scratch-my-head moment over a particular point in the statutory guidance.

So I did what I’d tell anyone else to do: I asked. This wasn’t an easy process, but eventually I got the clarity the client needed.

And that experience made me think about something bigger.

I think there is still a gap in how the practical experience of businesses and practitioners feeds back into the wider implementation of Martyn’s Law.

I would really welcome a more effective route for those questions and experiences to feed back into the SIA, Protect UK and the Home Office.

Not because I expect every question to have an immediate answer. This is a significant piece of legislation being implemented across an incredibly diverse range of premises and organisations. There will inevitably be questions as people start applying it in practice.

But there is useful learning happening on the ground now. And the feedback loop works both ways.

Businesses are starting to scope estates, identify Responsible Persons, look at procedures and measures, think about their people, and work through what reasonably practicable actually means in their own operating environments.

That practical experience has value.

Finding an effective way of feeding some of that learning back into the people shaping regulation and guidance would, I think, help everyone.

Because ultimately, we are all working towards the same aim: making sure the legislation is implemented well and that people are better protected.

For me, building those relationships properly, with the right people and at the right level, is part of the job.

Being part of the solution

What I will not do is criticise or dismiss the people working incredibly hard to get this right.

This is a big, complicated piece of legislation being rolled out across an enormous and varied sector, and nobody serious expected that to be simple from day one. Businesses, practitioners and regulators are all still learning, together, as it beds in.

I would rather contribute what we’re learning through implementation than stand on the sidelines pointing out where it’s difficult.

Collaboration isn’t a nice-to-have in this sector.

It’s the only way any of this actually works.

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About the author

Danielle Grant
Director of Counter Terrorism & Protective Security
Global Consortium Group (GCG)

Danni Grant is Director of Counter Terrorism and Protective Security at Global Consortium Group and a former senior national leader in UK Counter Terrorism Policing. She held national responsibility within Protect and Prepare, leading work across organisational learning, training and exercising, and working with government, policing and partners to strengthen preparedness for terrorist attacks. Today, she advises organisations on Martyn’s Law, protective security and practical approaches to preparedness, response and recovery.