Data shows some forces are taking months to respond to requests for checks on abusive partners.
The daughter of a woman who was murdered by her ex-partner has said she fears more people will be killed because of “poor” handling of an abuse prevention scheme set up in her mother's memory.
Maddy Wood, who was 10 when her mother was murdered, told the BBC she worried “poor execution” of the legislation by police forces “could potentially result in the loss of more lives”. Her family later learned her killer, who took his own life, had a history of violence against women and was jailed for three years in 2002 for harassment.
There were 45,344 Clare’s Law applications made in England and Wales in 2022/23, a rise of 300% in five years, according to figures provided by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services Every force which provided relevant data had taken longer than the 28-day limit to respond to some applications. Some took more than a year to respond to members of the public who had asked for disclosures about their partner.
She said: "The police have the tools and resources, but I don't think they're necessarily executing it to the full extent.She added: "If current demand isn't being met then I worry that the more awareness we put out there, the worse the workload is going to get and the less they're going to be able to handle the amount of disclosures.The Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, said Clare's Law disclosures were "potentially lifesaving".
Clare Crossan, the force’s lead inspector for domestic abuse and stalking, said: “If there’s no information or no offending history, we won’t make a disclosure but we still will reach out to that person that’s requested the information and have a discussion around what’s actually caused them to make that request.”
Last year HMICFRS inspectors warned three police forces - Durham, Merseyside and Thames Valley - over the length of time they were taking to respond to Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme requests.as a result of failings over the force's processing of 3,582 applications under the scheme.A woman who received a disclosure about her ex-husband in 2019 after asking West Yorkshire Police for a background check told the BBC the process was “an uncomfortable experience”.
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