Background checks and public record searches
Open-source reports and official records, including marriage searches, prepared for a lawful purpose and delivered in writing.
Public records, clearly reported
Some questions can be answered from official indexes and other public sources: whether and when someone married, what a public record shows, or what can fairly be established from open information. I search the sources that are relevant to your instruction and set the findings out in a short written report.
This work is available to clients anywhere in the United Kingdom. It is desk-based, so your location does not matter — whether you are in Crewe, Nantwich, Cheshire, Stoke-on-Trent, or elsewhere in the country. Enquiries come to me in Shavington, Crewe.
What is included
- A search scoped to the question you need answered
- Official marriage index searches for England and Wales, and an official certificate ordered from the General Register Office where one is found
- A check for relevant public notices or announcements, where that is part of the brief
- A written report of what was found, and of what could not be found
What is not included
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks
- A current address or contact details, unless we have separately agreed a lawful trace
- Monitoring of someone’s social media, or a file of personal photographs
A single public wedding photograph may be included where the couple published it themselves — for example in a notice or on a venue’s page — and it is relevant to the report. I will note where and when it was found. I will not gather a wider set of images of the person.
Background check questions
What does a background check include?
A written report drawn from lawful, open sources and public records relevant to your instruction. That may include official indexes, public notices and other information that it is proper to collect for the purpose you have given me.
Can you obtain a marriage certificate?
Yes, where a marriage is registered in England and Wales. I can search the official indexes and order the certificate from the General Register Office. The certificate itself is charged at cost, on top of the agreed report fee, unless the quote says otherwise.
Will the report include a current address or photographs?
Only if that is a lawful, necessary part of the instruction and has been agreed in the quote. A typical public-record or marriage search does not include a current address, contact details, or a collection of photographs from social media.
Is this a DBS check?
No. I do not provide Disclosure and Barring Service checks. The service covers public records and open-source research only.