• What is the FCO?
• Who we are
• What we do
• Our priorities
• Services we deliver
• Consular services
• Legal services
• The Legalisation Office (FCO) - The only competent authority in the UK to issue apostilles and legalisation certificates.
• Local document search
• Certificates of good conduct
• Service of documents & taking of evidence
• The Government Diamond Office
• UK Trade & Investment
• Sanctions implemented by the UK
• Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)
• How we spend our budget
• Working in partnership
• Working with the Overseas Territories
• Public diplomacy
• Protocol
• Scholarships
• Our Ministers
• Our history
• Working for us

Certificates of good conduct

A certificate of good conduct is a police records check. You may need this if have lived abroad and on your return to the UK a future employer requests evidence that you have no criminal record in the country where you have lived. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office and our British Embassies and High Commissions overseas are not able to obtain these certificates on your behalf.

If you wish to obtain a certificate of good conduct for time spent in overseas, you should contact the relevant Embassy or High Commission of that country for advice. You may also wish to contact the police authorities in the area in which you stayed.

If you are resident overseas and are planning to return to work in the UK, you should apply to the relevant local police authorities and obtain a certificate of good conduct before you leave the country.

Police Checks in the UK

Under the provisions of the Data Protections Act 1998 everyone has a right to see 'personal data' held about them on the UK Police National Computer (PNC). There are exemptions to this right of access - for example if releasing information would prejudice policing purposes or would identify other individuals. In these circumstances the information that is exempt will be omitted. If you require a police check from the UK for use overseas, the Association of Chief Police Officers Criminal Records Office (ACRO) can provide provide Subject Access disclosures on behalf of most police forces in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey and Isle of Man.

If you currently live in, or your last UK address was in Suffolk, Norfolk or the Metropolitan Police Service area applicants you should apply to ACRO directly.

Applicants living in any other area should apply through their local police force Data Protection Officer. If the applicant lives abroad, they should apply through the police force area in which they most recently lived in the UK.

ACRO will reply to the applicant directly with the results of the PNC search. This can take up to 40 days from receipt of the request.

If applicants require access to other information that may be held about them on any other police records system they should contact the Data Protection Office at their local police force for further assistance or view the data protection pages on the force’s website.