2. What should I do if I’ve been bailed?

If you have been released on police bail, you will be given a date to return to the police station. This may just be to sign in, or you may be called in for an interview. Your solicitor may be able to find out in advance whether the police are planning to interview you or not.

If you’ve been bailed to return to a police station interview, we recommend that you attend with one of the recommended solicitors.

The solicitors on our recommended list will provide this service free of charge. If you decide to go without a solicitor, you should answer ‘No Comment’ to all questions. This is easier than trying to decide for yourself which questions are best to answer as the police may trip you up. Most good solicitors will likely recommend that you do a ‘no comment interview’ anyway. If you’re under 18, an appropriate adult should also be present, this is most likely to be a parent or guardian.

If you are not interviewed then reporting for bail will generally be a quick process where you just sign to show that you have attended.

The police can then take one of four actions:

1. You could be given no further action (NFA) which is when your case is dropped. This could also happen before the bail date in which case you don’t have to attend.  This means you are not being charged and is the end of the legal process (although in rare cases it is possible for the police to reopen the case if new evidence comes to light).
2. You could be re-bailed to a later date. If this happens, solicitors can try to challenge bail.
3. You could be charged. This could be with a different offence than the one you were arrested for based on evidence or legal advice. If this happens, you will be given a court date that you have to appear at. This could also happen by post before your interview.
4. You could be offered a caution, a caution is an admission of responsibility which we strongly advise that you do not accept unless a recommended solicitor has explicitly advised you to do so.

If you have been bailed to court, check out our guide to the post-charge legal process for what you should do for your court date.