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If you have a conviction for same-sex sexual activity under an offence which has since been repealed or abolished, you can apply to the Home Office to have your conviction disregarded and pardoned.

In order for a disregard to be granted, any other person who was a party to the same-sex sexual activity that resulted in the conviction must have been 16 or over and the behaviour must not be an offence today.

If the conviction is disregarded, it will be removed from official records (or where this is not possible, the record will be annotated). You will be treated in all circumstances as if the conviction had never occurred and you will not need to disclose it for any purpose. If your conviction is disregarded, you will also be granted an automatic pardon.

Revisiting your experience of being criminalised for your same-sex sexual offences can be upsetting. If you need emotional support, you can contact the LGBT Foundation helpline, who will be able to provide support for your emotional wellbeing:

Phone: 0345 3 30 30 30

Email: helpline@lgbt.foundation

How to apply

The application process is free of charge.

To apply, please read the guidance above and complete the application form. You will need to provide proof of identity (such as a copy of your driving licence) and address (such as a copy of a bank statement). The full list of accepted ID documents can be found in the application form.

If you do not remember the specific details of your conviction or are not sure whether the offence has since been repealed, please provide as much information as possible and we will do our best to look into it for you.

Your application and any attachments you send us will be treated confidentially.

If you require a version of this document in Welsh, email disregards@homeoffice.gov.uk to request this.

Email the form to disregards@homeoffice.gov.uk or post to:

If you send your sensitive and personal data by email, you should carefully check the recipients email address to ensure it is: disregards@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The Home Office accepts no liability for any misdirection of emails with attachments that may include sensitive and personal data.

If you would like to know more about how your case will be assessed you can read the caseworker guidance.