Specialist Crime

Police Family Disclosure Protocol

The Police Family Disclosure Protocol provides timely advance notice to police of the existence of family law proceedings, and the level of police information sought. The protocol encourages police and parties involved, including children social care, to share information at the earliest opportunity when family cases are contemplated.

The protocol has the support of The Judiciary, the Ministry of Justice and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

The point of contact on Child Abuse Investigation Teams for requests is the detective inspector for the team.

Requests for disclosure in Family Proceedings

Requests for disclosure in Family Proceedings should be transferred to the Directorate of Legal Services (DLS) for review and the process for submitting requests has been amended. All future correspondence in respect of Child Care disclosure matters should be referred to the Directorate of Legal Services, Legal Support Team. When forwarding the request to DLS via email, please use the subject box and title the email 'New Request - (family name)'.

Email: DLSMailbox-LegalSupportDisclosure@met.police.uk
All queries must come through this mailbox address.

Please see our Your right to information pages for further infomation with regards to disclosure.

We will consider the referrals on receipt and if applicable, will reallocate these to the appropriate department for processing. Please note the contact details for the Legal Support Team can be found below. If you submit your request via email, we would ask that you do not send through the original documents unless it is requested.

Legal Support Team address:

2nd Floor Victoria Block
New Scotland Yard
London
SW1H 0BG

Fax: 0207 230 7209

Download the Police Family Disclosure Protocol in PDF format (85Kb)