Guidance

Apply to remove a conviction for decriminalised sex offences: applicant guidance

Published 6 November 2023

Applies to England and Wales

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland

This application form is for use by anyone seeking to make an application to have one or more historical convictions for same-sex sexual activity removed from the record. This guidance applies to the extended disregards and pardons scheme which was introduced by sections 194 to 195 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which amended the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and came into force on 13 June 2023.

Overview

If you have a historical conviction for same-sex sexual activity under an offence that has now been repealed or abolished, you can apply to have your conviction ‘disregarded’. In this context, the word ‘conviction’ includes conviction or convictions, cautions, warnings, and reprimands.

The purpose of this scheme is to address the historical discrimination faced by those who were criminalised for being attracted to people of the same sex.

Do I meet the conditions for a disregard?

You can apply for a disregard if you were convicted of same-sex sexual activity under the law of England and Wales or under UK service law using an offence which has since been repealed or abolished.

Your conviction will only be disregarded if it meets certain conditions. For a conviction to be disregarded, it must appear to the decision maker that:

• any other person involved in the sexual activity was aged 16 or over; and
• the offence has been repealed or, in the case of an offence at common law, abolished by enactment (whether or not it has been re-enacted or replaced); and
• if the sexual activity were to occur in the same circumstances at the time of decision, it would not constitute an offence

We understand that you may not be clear as to whether the offence for which you were convicted has been repealed or abolished. This does not prevent you from submitting your application to the Home Office. We will be able to confirm whether you meet the necessary conditions for a disregard.

Completing the application form

You will need to complete the application form and provide copies of two official documents to provide proof of your identity and proof of your address. The type of documents we accept are set out in the next section of this guidance.

You may only apply to have your own conviction disregarded. We are unable to accept applications made on behalf of a third party. You can ask someone else to help you to complete the application form, but you will need to sign it yourself to confirm that the details provided are accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge.

The application form contains further guidance about how to complete each section. There are two sections to the application form:

Section A: Personal details

This section relates to your current personal information and must be completed in full for your application to be processed. If you do not provide the information requested in section A, we will not be able to process your application.

We need this information so that we can contact you and so we can match your personal details with the identity documents we ask you to provide.

You only need to complete this section once per application, regardless of the number of convictions you are applying to have disregarded.

Declaration

You must sign and date the declaration at the end of Section A.

You only need to complete this section once per application, regardless of the number of convictions you are applying to have disregarded.

Section B: Conviction details

This section relates to your personal details at the time of the conviction(s) and details of the conviction(s) themselves. This section should be completed as fully as possible.

If you are applying to have more than one conviction disregarded, please copy section B as many times as necessary and complete a separate section B for each conviction. This includes where you were convicted on the same occasion for more than one offence.

The more information you can provide us with, the easier it will be for us to locate the relevant records and progress your application more quickly.

When you have completed the application form, you should sign and date it in the space provided at the bottom of section B.

Once complete, you can submit this form and copies of your identification documents, by email or post.

Email: disregards@homeoffice.gov.uk

Disregards Caseworking Team
Public Protection Unit
5th Floor Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Confirming your identity and address

Criminal record information is sensitive personal information, and its management is strictly governed under UK data protection and other relevant legislation.

In order to safeguard this information and ensure it is only disclosed to the person that it relates to, we require you to provide copies of two documents to confirm (a) your identity and (b) your current address.

Please do not send original documents as we are unable to return them to you.

(a) To confirm your identity, please provide a copy of one of the following documents:

• passport
• driving licence
• HM Forces ID card
• firearms licence
• birth or adoption certificate

(b) To confirm your current address details, please provide a copy of one of the following documents:

• bank or building society statement
• utility bill
• credit or store card statement
• benefits letter or statement
• council tax bill

Protecting your personal information

All the information that you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We will never disclose your information to any person or organisation not involved in the disregards process, without your express consent to do so.

If your application involves a services offence, we will share your information with the Ministry of Defence so that details from your service records can be considered as part of your application.

If you would like us to contact someone else acting on your behalf in respect of your application, you should enclose a signed letter along with your application, setting out the contact details of the individual acting on your behalf and stating that you consent to us discussing your application with them.

We will retain your application and the associated materials for a period of six years from the date that your case is closed. This will enable us to deal with any subsequent queries or legal challenges that may arise in line with Home Office policy on data retention.

We strongly recommend that you make a note of the assigned casework reference number (URN) that we will provide you with and keep all the official correspondence you receive in relation to this application.

Please note that we will not be able to provide further copies of correspondence after your application has been completed and your personal details deleted.

What happens next?

If your conviction has not met the conditions for a disregard, you will receive a letter confirming this and the reasons why your application has been rejected.

In all other cases, you will receive an acknowledgement that your application has been received and is being processed.

To process your application, we will contact the relevant data controllers (ACRO Criminal Records Office, the police, HM Courts and Tribunal Service and, if relevant, the UK service police) and request them to provide the relevant information they hold so that it can be considered when we are making a decision on your application.

If your application involves a conviction for a service offence, the Ministry of Defence will review the details in your application together with records from ACRO Criminal Records Office and the UK service police.

We will write to you once a decision has been made.

If your application is successful, we will write to the relevant data controllers requesting that they delete or annotate their records accordingly.

Each data controller will then write to you to confirm that this has been done.

Effect of a disregard

Once you have been informed that your application has been successful and a period of 14 days thereafter has elapsed, you will be treated in all circumstances as though the offence had never occurred and need not disclose it for any purpose. Official records relating to the conviction that are held by prescribed organisations will be deleted or, where appropriate, annotated to this effect as soon as possible thereafter.

You will also receive a pardon for your conviction that has been disregarded.

What to do if you disagree with our decision

If you disagree with the decision in relation to your conviction(s) and either have further evidence to submit or consider that an error was made on your initial application form, you should contact the Disregards Caseworking Team at the Home Office so that your application can be reviewed.

You can contact us via email at disregards@homeoffice.gov.uk

Or in writing at:

Disregards Caseworking Team
Public Protection Unit
5th Floor Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

If you consider the final decision reached in relation to your application is wrong, you have the right under the provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to seek leave to appeal the decision to the High Court.

Revisiting your experience of being criminalised for your historical same-sex sexual offences can be upsetting. If you need emotional support, you can contact the LGBT Foundation helpline:

Phone: 0345 3 30 30 30

Email: helpline@lgbt.foundation

If you send your sensitive and personal data by email to the Disregards Team, you should carefully check the recipient’s email address to ensure it is: disregards@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The Home Office accepts no liability for any misdirection of emails with attachments that may include sensitive and personal data.