Clare’s Law – and what it means for your safety

Whatever your walk of life, when it comes to matters of the heart, first and foremost online dating should be safe, and fun.

At Muddy Matches, we believe mud lovers who choose to country-life date with us should do so with confidence, reassurance, and empowerment. And 99.9% of the time that’s exactly how they feel.

However, very occasionally someone will slip through our safety net and disrupt that feeling; putting a sour note on an otherwise positive experience that tens of thousands of country singles would happily recommend until the cows come home.

The wellbeing of everyone within our online dating community is of the utmost importance.

That’s why we want to tell you about Clare’s Law.

Clare’s Law – or the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) as it is often referred to – grants you access to dig into a partner’s history of abusive behaviour or violent offending if you have concerns about their conduct towards you.

It also grants police forces nationwide, the right to disclose this information to you or someone responsible for your safeguarding, IF they believe it is the interests of your personal safety or it could likely prevent a crime.

You can also access Clare’s Law if concerns arise over the behaviour of a prospective partner, current partner, or an ex-partner.

Having reached out online, via a police station on by calling 101 to start the process, police will notify you if there is a risk – so you are informed and make clear, informed choices when it comes to increasing your wellbeing and safety.

Clare’s Law has two main elements to it.

A ‘right to ask’
It provides, a discrete, and consistent process for you, as a member of the public (or relevant third party, i.e., family member), to confidentially request information from police nationwide about a current or ex partners violet or abusive past.

If records show there is a credible risk of violence or harm, the police will consider disclosing the information to you. If there is no grounds of risk after the process has run its course, you will not receive further correspondence.

A ‘right to know’
An opportunity for police forces to lawfully disclose a person’s history of abusive behaviour to an individual, at their own discretion when it is in the interests of an individual’s wellbeing, and safety.

Clare’s Law is not new, nor alone does it stop abusive behaviour, in all its many forms. However, it does educate and can arm you with sensitive information on which to base any future steps you see fit to take.

At Muddy Matches, we encourage singles who feel their matches’ behaviour could be cause for concern, to first raise a concern report with our customer care team.

In the unlikely situation you feel it is necessary to raise a concern report to us, we will handle it with priority and sensitivity – and we will do our due diligence in the spirit of community welfare.

However, there is only so much we are legally allowed to do. As a business, we are unable to access the information made accessible through Clare’s Law.

For this reason, we urge people with growing concerns about a partner or ex partner’s behaviour to be empowered by Clare’s Law and follow the process here.

Did you know.
In the year ending March 2020, 11,556 ‘right to ask’ applications were applied for in England and Wales. 4,236 (37%) applications resulted in a response being given, whilst 63% were deemed not to carry risk.