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Frequently Asked Questions

These are especially written for our International Clients so that you may understand the limitations of UK research.

Can you find out if a person has a criminal conviction?

Criminal records in the UK are generally not available. Full records are held by the police. Unlawful access to the records is a criminal offence.

It may be possible to pick up on an individual case in the press. If one can work out the date and court, in theory you could go to the court and ask for details of the conviction. They will only supply details of the offence and the sentence. No other details. However, although these are technically records in the public domain, courts are still reluctant to provide details and it is usually an exercise in futility trying to get them.

Recently established in the UK is the Criminal Records Bureau - an executive agency of the Home Office. It is set up to help certain organisations make safer recruitment decisions by providing wider access to criminal record information e.g. Care Assistant with children, Social Workers and the like. For more information visit www.crb.gov.uk

The usual way to obtain an 'all clear' as far as criminal records are concerned is for the individual concerned to go personally (no one can do it on their behalf, with or without a waiver) to a police station and ask for details of any records held on them. This is a right they have under the Data Protection Act 1998. They will get details of any non-operational data held and it would include convictions if they have them, or show they have none if there aren't any. They have to fill in a form, pay £10 and then wait anything up to 3 months for the result.

Can you find out if a person or company has been involved in Civil Litigation or in a Civil Court case?

In the UK there are two main civil courts, the High Court (the upper court) which cover the big cases and the County Courts (the lower court) which deals with, guess what, smaller cases.

In the High Court cases there are no public databases listing pending, current or completed cases. The only way to find out about a case is through press and/or internet searching. Even then, you will not have access to court records unless your request forms part of another court case to which you are a party.

In the County Court there is no access to cases like divorce, general disputes etc., nor is there any database to search to see whether there is any past or present cases. The only information available is in the case of where two people sue one another for financial recovery e.g. you own me £2000 and I sue you for it. I can go to the Small Claims Court which is part of the County Court. If I am successful then I would get a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you. This is filed on a central database and will show only the date of the case, the court and the amount in question. No other information.

However, in relation to bankruptcy cases, winding up orders for businesses, voluntary arrangements, credit commitment defaults etc., these can be traced through certain databases.

The only other way to trace a Court Order is to look at the subject's home address and if he is the owner of it then a court can lodge Orders against the address allowing first claim on the proceeds of sale of the property.

Can you impose a Tax Lien?

Tax liens in the form known in the US are not available. If somebody is owed money in the UK then an Attachment of Earnings Order can be made against the subject's salary requiring their employer to take the money out of their pay before it is given to them.

Can you obtain information from Driving Licence Records?

Driving Licence Records are not public records. They are merely a record of the type/class of vehicle a person can drive. The record will only show the persons name and address, date of birth and class of vehicle. In certain cases it is possible to ask for a search of the record but you have to give them the person's name, address and date of birth first before they will search. You will only get back the class of vehicle they can drive. No one really uses these records except companies to confirm that a sales person is entitled to drive a car or a truck driver has the necessary licence to drive for the company.

Can you obtain Credit Searches?

Credit searches will only show whether the subject is recorded at the address and whether there are any County Court Judgement (CCJ) are lodged against them.

Recently, a new process has commenced (a section 29 search) where if the credit search is for the purpose of the prevention, detection or prosecution of a criminal offence, then it is possible to get a detailed credit search carried out, but this has to be done under a signed declaration.

Can you obtain information on businesses?

Business searches are similar to the US and the information obtained is quite extensive.

Can you find information on an individual's address?

Bear in mind that all UK searching is address based. We must have an address as a starting point. There are systems that will link back on an individuals address so we can trace them back through several homes. However, records do not follow someone from address to address so it is necessary to search each address as an entity in its own right. That usually means going into 4/5 separate databases per address.It can get expensive if they have moved around a lot. For example, we came across an individual who had 21 linked addresses. Each address had to be fully search using the 4/5 separate databases for each address.

For general research we usually ask the client what their final objectives are as we will know the best route to use. However, we still get clients asking for a single or specific search which turns out to be meaningless for the purpose they are seeking.