Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme - Clare’s Law
Request information under Clare's Law: Make a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) application
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The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), known as Clare's Law, allows you to find out if your partner poses a risk of violence or abuse.
Under Clare's law, a member of the public can also make enquiries into the partner of a close friend or family member.
The aim of the scheme is to:
- give you formal ways to make enquiries about your partner if you are worried that they may have been abusive in the past
- help you to make a more informed decision on whether to continue a relationship
- provide further help and support to assist you when making that choice.
You can make a DVDS request in three ways: online, by calling 101 or at a police station.
For more information, you can download this Information leaflet.
What happens after I make a request?
We aim to do an initial review of the application within 24 hours to assess whether:
- the application will progress
- there is any immediate or imminent risk
If the application does progress it will be referred to your Safer Neighbourhood Team to follow up and they'll aim to contact you about a face to face meeting, if one is required, within 10 working days of your application being made.
At that meeting you'll need to provide proof of your identity, ideally photo ID which has your date of birth and address on it (eg a passport or driving licence).
If you don't have a passport or driving licence, we may accept another form of photo ID, a birth certificate, utility bill or bank statement.
If we do decide to share information about the person you've made a request about, we'll only share that information with the person who is at risk of harm or the person who is best placed to protect that person from harm.
If we think someone is at risk, we or our partner agencies, will take action.
We aim to complete applications within 35 working days, but there may be reasons why it takes longer than this. If it does, we will let you know.
If you think someone is at risk, or you suspect or know about domestic abuse happening, please call us on 101 or report it to us online.
Please note that completion of this form does not guarantee an immediate response or disclosure.
Your online form submission will only be picked up during office hours of Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, therefore please do not use this form to disclose crime - you can make a report here.
You can call 101 to make a request. A call taker will take down some details and talk you through the next steps.
You'll be asked to give your:
- name
- address
- date of birth
A safe means of contacting you will be agreed and we'll carry out some initial checks to make sure there are no immediate risks or concerns. If there are, or if you tell us a crime has happened (domestic abuse is a crime), we may act on that.
You can go to any police station to make a request. A police officer or member of police staff will take down some details and talk you through the next steps.
You'll be asked to give your:
- name
- address
- date of birth
A safe means of contacting you will be agreed and we'll carry out some initial checks to make sure there are no immediate risks or concerns. If there are, or if you tell us a crime has happened (domestic abuse is a crime), we may act on that.
You'll need the following details, if possible, to make your request:
- the full name and any previous names of the person you're applying to find out about (in the request process this person is known as the 'subject')
- the current address for the subject
- we’ll ask you, as part of your request, how you’d like to be contacted. We’ll only contact you that way. We’ll also ask about when it’s best to contact you, eg dates and times.
Once received we'll carry out some initial checks to make sure there are no immediate risks or concerns. If there are, or if you tell us a crime has happened (domestic abuse is a crime), we may act on that.
Your form submission will only be picked up during office hours of Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, therefore please do not use the form to disclose crime - you can make a report here.
Average completion time: 15 minutes.
Please note: You won't be able to save your request as you go; you'll have 30 minutes to complete each step of the form before it times out.
To fill in a request online, scroll down on this page to locate the form.
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