The police have a range of measures available to them to monitor and risk-manage convicted sex offenders and individuals without a conviction who pose a risk of harm.

Individuals convicted of or cautioned for certain sexual offences are required to comply with notification requirements set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. These require offenders to notify their local police station of specific details including their name(s), address(es) and all foreign travel. This must be done annually and whenever their details change. The notification requirements are an automatic consequence of a conviction or caution for an offence in Schedule 3 to the 2003 Act. Failure to comply is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.

Individuals subject to these requirements are referred to as ‘registered sex offenders’ (RSOs). Whilst this system is referred to as the ‘sex offenders' register’, it is not a register, but a series of requirements imposed on RSOs.

All RSOs are managed under the statutory multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA), which requires the police, prison and probation services to manage the risks posed by RSOs and other offenders. The most recent MAPPA data published by the Ministry of Justice (in October 2024) showed that on 31 March 2024, 70,052 RSOs were managed under MAPPA in the community.

Information RSOs notify to the police is stored on the ViSOR database. The police, probation and prison services use ViSOR to store and share information about serious offenders for the purpose of managing the risks they pose. ViSOR will be replaced by a new system, MAPPS, which will improve multi-agency working in the future.

As part of the MAPPA process, each offender has a risk management plan. During the formulation of that risk management plan, consideration must be given as to the disclosure of information about the offender to third parties. This includes assessing whether proactive disclosure is necessary to protect victims, potential victims, or others in the community such as an employer or a person forming a relationship with an offender.

Section 327A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 places a legal duty on MAPPA authorities to consider disclosure in every case involving child sex offenders, where it is necessary and proportionate to prevent or detect crime.

Where necessary to protect individuals from serious harm, the police can disclose information about RSOs with convictions or individuals without convictions who pose a risk of sexual harm. There are specific schemes that support this process: the non-statutory Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme (Sarah’s Law) and the statutory Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (Clare’s Law). These schemes provide a framework to help the police make disclosure decisions and enable members of the public to request information.

In addition to the notification requirements, civil orders are available to the police, on
application to the court, to manage the risk posed by registered sex offenders and those who pose a risk of harm:
• Sexual harm prevention orders can be applied to anyone convicted or cautioned for a sexual or violent offence, including where offences are committed overseas; and
• Sexual risk orders can be applied to any individual (even without a conviction) who has done an act of a sexual nature as a result of which they are considered to pose a risk of harm in the UK or abroad.

Both orders can place a range of restrictions and/or requirements on individuals depending on the nature of the case, such as limiting their internet use, preventing travel abroad or attending a drug or alcohol treatment or behaviour change programme. This can include a requirement that offenders disclose to relevant persons (for example, an intimate partner) that they are a registered sex offender. For both civil orders, breach is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.

The Crime and Policing Bill is introducing a range of legislative changes to strengthen the management of RSOs. This includes a power to publish statutory guidance for police on disclosing information to prevent sexual harm. This will place a duty on the police to have regard to any guidance – such as the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme guidance – issued under this power. This will ensure such schemes are used and applied consistently across all police forces and will help increase the number of applications.

The system described above allows for targeted disclosure where necessary to manage risk and protect individuals. Making information publicly available would undermine this approach, risk exposing victims, and make it harder for offenders to be monitored by the police and other agencies.

The Government is keen to ensure systems such as disclosure schemes are as robust and useful to public safety as possible and will continue to work with agencies involved in offender management to ensure practice and legislation is in place to do so.

Home Office