Just been arrested?

Being arrested is a frightening time, for you and everyone around you. You might know exactly what caused it – a fight in the street, something that got out of hand – or you might have no idea what it’s all about and be convinced it’s a dreadful mistake. Either way, the police will want to ask you questions, and there are strict, legally set time limits on how long they can hold you while they do that.

The information on this page is based on the law in England & Wales. If you’re in Scotland or Northern Ireland, click here for the guide for your jurisdiction.

Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), you cannot normally be held for more than 24 hours without being charged or released. For more serious (“indictable”) offences, a senior police officer can authorise a further 12 hours, taking it to 36 hours, and in the most serious cases the police can apply to a Magistrates’ Court for the total to be extended up to 96 hours. If it’s a minor, summary-only offence, 24 hours is an absolute cap – there’s no extension available. If the police don’t have enough evidence to charge you, they can only keep extending your detention if they can show it’s genuinely helping them get the evidence they need. If their enquiries are continuing, they may instead release you “under investigation” or on pre-charge bail to come back to the station at a fixed date and time.

The police must ask if you want a solicitor before they question you about the offence (beyond routine questions like confirming who you are). If you already have a solicitor you use for these situations, now is the time to call them – though if you’ve already got a criminal lawyer on speed dial you’re probably not the person this website is aimed at! For the rest of us, the usual choice is either a solicitor you know from other things (buying a house, for example) or, if you don’t have an existing relationship with a firm, the duty solicitor. The duty solicitor is a fully qualified criminal solicitor, paid for through legal aid rather than by you, and attached to a specific police station or group of stations. If you ask for a solicitor, the police must stop questioning you until you’ve had the chance to speak to them privately. This solicitor works for you, not the police, so should always have your best interests at heart.

The solicitor will advise you on how best to proceed – whether to answer questions or to say “no comment” to everything. Their main job at this stage is to stop you inadvertently making things harder for yourself by what you say, and to make sure the police stick to the rules around arresting and questioning people, including the time limits above. As we say elsewhere on this site, we’re not giving you legal advice here – if in doubt, get the advice of a real, qualified expert.

If you don’t use the duty solicitor and you’re charged, you’ll need to appoint a solicitor to act for you (this could still be the duty solicitor, if you ask them to keep acting for you). There are plenty of good firms who specialise in criminal law, and you’ll find help finding one on other pages of this site. If you decide not to appoint your own solicitor at all, the court will appoint one for you when your case comes to trial. You can even tell the court you don’t want to be represented and that you’ll act for yourself – though there’s an old legal saying that “a man who acts for himself has a knave for a solicitor and a fool for a client”…

Solicitors cost money, although the duty solicitor’s help at the police station is free to you regardless of your income – it’s paid for through legal aid, not means-tested at this stage. Beyond the police station, Legal Aid is the system that helps pay legal costs if your case goes further, and whether you qualify depends on a means test and the “interests of justice”. We’ve a whole page on how that works – see our Legal Aid page for the current rules, because eligibility criteria and thresholds do change from time to time and it’s always worth checking the latest position.

The next issue you may face is bail. There are, broadly, three situations you might find yourself in:

i.    Released under investigation, or pre-charge police bail – the police let you go without charging you, either with no conditions while they carry on investigating, or on bail with conditions and a date to return to the police station.
ii.    Bailed to court – the police have charged you, and you’re bailed to attend court on a set date for your first hearing.
iii.    Court bail – you’ve already appeared in court and have been granted bail while the case continues or while further investigations are carried out.

Bail usually comes with conditions – these might include reporting to a police station regularly (daily, weekly or monthly – known as “signing on”), a curfew, staying away from certain people or places, or surrendering your passport, on top of whatever else the court decides. If you’re charged with a serious offence (broadly, one carrying a maximum sentence of ten years or more), or another specified offence, or the police think you’re a danger to yourself or others, or that you might not turn up to your next hearing, they may argue against bail altogether, or ask that someone puts up a financial guarantee (a “surety”) that you’ll attend court as required. In most cases that guarantee is just a promise and no money changes hands up front, but whoever offers it may need to show they could actually pay if it were called in. As with everything in this area, it’s a complicated business and best handled with proper legal advice.