Disclosure schemes

How to apply

1. Use your local force's online form (links below). If none, dial 101 and ask for "a Clare's Law / DVDS application".
2. You can also walk into any police station.
3. Provide your details, the subject's details, and the relationship/concern.
4. Police carry out safeguarding and intelligence checks; a face-to-face meeting follows.
5. Decision target: 28 days (35 in complex cases). Disclosure is made only to the person best placed to protect the potential victim.

You do not have to be the partner — concerned family, friends, neighbours or professionals can apply on someone's behalf.

Northern Ireland — how it differs (checked August 2026)

In Northern Ireland the scheme is not called Clare's Law. It is the Domestic Violence and Abuse Disclosure Scheme (DVADS NI), run by PSNI and introduced by the Department of Justice in March 2018. It works in two ways:

• Right to Ask — you, or a friend, relative or professional worried about you, ask PSNI about a partner or ex-partner.
• Power to Tell — PSNI decide on their own initiative to warn someone at risk (this is called "Right to Know" in England & Wales).

The guidance was rewritten in December 2023 and that is still the version in force. Two changes matter to you:

• The test for disclosing was lowered from "risk of serious harm" to "risk of harm" — so more people now qualify for information.
• It now covers coercive and controlling behaviour, which became a criminal offence in NI under s.1 Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (NI) 2021 (in force 21 February 2022) — not just physical violence convictions.

Apply through PSNI online, at any police station, or by dialling 101 and asking for "a DVADS Right to Ask application". If a disclosure is made, it goes to the person at risk (or, rarely, whoever is best placed to protect them), and you will usually be asked to sign an undertaking not to pass it on.

Sources: PSNI DVADS page and DoJ DVADS NI Guidance (December 2023).

Is there a register of convicted domestic abusers?

No — there is no public domestic abuse offenders register anywhere in the UK, and none in Northern Ireland. There is nothing you can look someone up on yourself. The disclosure schemes above are the only route, and they run on police discretion.

• Northern Ireland: no domestic abuse offender register exists. Sex offenders are managed under PPANI (Public Protection Arrangements NI) — again, not public. Campaigners, including a former PSNI domestic violence officer, called again in 2026 for a mandatory register requiring convicted abusers to notify police of their address and new relationships. It has not been created; nothing has changed in law yet.
• England & Wales: the closest thing is MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangements), which is police/probation management, not a public list. From 3 February 2025, under the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, anyone convicted of controlling or coercive behaviour and sentenced to 12 months or more is automatically managed under MAPPA — putting it on a par with stalking, non-fatal strangulation and threats to kill. You cannot search MAPPA, but it means agencies must share risk information about that person.
• Scotland: the Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse in Scotland (DSDAS) does the same job as Clare's Law. Again, no public register.

In plain terms: you cannot check anyone yourself, but you can ask the police, and they must consider telling you. If you are told nothing, that does not mean the person is safe — it may only mean there is nothing recorded, or that the threshold to disclose was not met. Trust what you are experiencing and keep your own log.

Sources: GOV.UK, "Better protection for victims from domestic abusers" (3 February 2025); Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, Part 4; NI Assembly / local reporting on calls for a domestic violence offender register (2026). Last checked August 2026.

If you are at immediate risk

National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge): 0808 2000 247 — 24/7, free.