C1A Form: How to Fill It In and What Happens Next

Part of: C100 Form: How to Fill It In, Section by Section

The C1A form is how you tell the family court, in writing, that you or your child have suffered harm or are at risk of it, and it is also how you answer allegations like that made about you. It travels with a C100 application or with the other parent’s reply. Cafcass considers what you put on the C1A form alongside its own police and local authority checks, and the judge relies on it at the first hearing to decide how to handle safety and whether disputed allegations need testing. This guide covers the law in England and Wales.

Whichever side you are on, you can book a free initial consultation and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on your situation before you file or reply.

What the C1A form is for, and what it cannot do

Its full title is Allegations of harm and domestic violence (Supplemental information form). It does one job: it puts safety information in front of the court early, before anyone has spoken in a courtroom. The form adds detail to an application but never replaces one. Three things about it surprise people.

• It cannot ask the court for anything. If you need protection now, a non molestation order is a separate application with its own form.
• The other parent sees it. The court serves it on them with the application. If your address or phone number must stay private, leave them off and file form C8 at the same time. GOV.UK amended the form on 1 June 2026 to direct you to that confidential details form, and page one now asks whether you have completed it.
• The form’s wording is shorter than the law. Page one describes domestic violence as any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between adults who are or have been partners or family members. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 spells out more. It names controlling or coercive behaviour and economic abuse (s.1), and a child who sees, hears or experiences the effects of abuse, and is related to either adult, is a victim in their own right (s.3). Practice Direction 12J uses the Act’s definition, so do not let the form’s shorter wording talk you out of including something.

Who fills in a C1A form, and by when

It depends on which side of the application you are on, and on whether you have safety concerns of your own. On the C100, the trigger is a Yes to any of five safety questions about the children: domestic abuse, child abduction, child abuse, drug, alcohol or substance misuse, and other safety or welfare concerns. A Yes to any one means the C1A must go in with the application. The form’s own checklist and guidance notes set out the other combinations below.

You do not need to have involved the police. The table on the form asks who you went to for help, and the notes say that can be your doctor, social services, a voluntary sector worker, or a friend or family member. Our guide to how the court tests disputed allegations picks up the question of evidence.

Which forms do you need? A three-question C1A form check

How to fill in a C1A form, section by section

The current version runs to 14 pages, with the guidance notes at the end. The form itself tells you to read those notes and the checklist before you start, so do that first. Then work through it in order.

Sections 1 and 2: about you, and what happened

1. About you. Your name, whether you are the applicant or the respondent, the children the form concerns, and whether you have completed form C8. If your contact details must stay private, leave them blank and send the C8 with this form. Then check that nothing else you file gives them away.
2. The kinds of abuse. Tick boxes for physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and financial abuse, marked separately for you and for the children.
3. Orders already in place. Any non molestation, occupation, forced marriage protection or restraining order, any other injunction, or an undertaking given instead of an order. Give the date, the length and the court, and attach copies.
4. The table. Up to five numbered entries. For each one, say when the behaviour started and how long it went on, what happened, who you asked for help, and what they did. Approximate dates are acceptable, and one entry can cover the same kind of behaviour repeated over a period. Keep it short: the form itself says you will get further opportunities to make a detailed statement.

Sections 3 to 7: abduction, other worries, orders and attending court

5. Abduction. Complete this only if you believe the children are at risk of being taken. It asks about earlier threats or attempts, where the children are now, and who holds their passports.
6. Other concerns. Anything about the children’s safety and wellbeing that the table does not cover, as a summary rather than a statement.
7. Steps or orders. What you want the court to do to keep the children and you safe. Three yes-or-no questions follow: do you agree to unsupervised time, to supervised time, and to other contact such as calls, texts and social media.
8. Statement of truth. You sign to confirm that the facts in the form are true.
9. Attending court. Tick the arrangements you want, such as separate waiting rooms, separate entrances and exits, screens or a video link. Our guide to special measures in the family court explains how these work on the day.

Before you send it, the checklist asks for the C100 or C7, the C8 if you need one, copies of any protective orders, and any other written evidence you can provide at this stage to support the table.

A C1A form example: one row of the table, written well

We invented the example below to show the level of detail that helps. It does not come from a real case.

The stronger row gives an approximate start date, describes the behaviour instead of labelling it, says what the child heard, and points to people who can confirm it. Even so, it is still short. The detail comes later, in a statement, if the court asks for one.

What happens after you file it

After you file your C1A form, family court staff and Cafcass follow a set timetable in Practice Direction 12B.

1. Cafcass gets a copy. The court sends the C100 and any C1A to Cafcass, or Cafcass Cymru in Wales, no later than two working days after issue (PD12B, para 8.9).
2. The other parent is served. Unless you ask to do it yourself, the court serves them with the application, your C1A, a blank C1A and the reply form (para 8.8).
3. They reply. They have 14 days from receiving it to return the C7 and any C1A, unless the court sets a shorter time. Our guide to the C7 form covers their side.
4. Safeguarding checks. For child arrangements orders, Cafcass checks with the police and the local authority and, where possible, phones each parent. Those calls are about safety only, not the rest of the dispute (paras 13.2 to 13.4).
5. The safeguarding letter. Within 17 working days of receiving the application, and at least three working days before the hearing, Cafcass reports the risks it has found and lists the forms it considered (para 13.7).
6. The first hearing. The FHDRA hearing should ordinarily take place in week 5 after issue, and in week 6 at the latest (para 14.1).

How domestic abuse changes the first hearing

Where the C1A or the checks raise domestic abuse, Practice Direction 12J changes how the hearing runs. The court must make sure those issues are dealt with at the hearing. It must not expect you to try mediation or another form of dispute resolution that is not suitable or safe (PD12J, para 9). It must record on its order whether domestic abuse is raised as an issue relevant to the child’s welfare (para 14). If no reliable safeguarding information is ready, the court generally must not make an interim order about contact unless that protects the child (para 12).

If the allegations are disputed and would affect the arrangements, the judge then decides whether they must be tested first. That step has its own guide: how a fact-finding hearing is directed.

Responding to a C1A form made about you

Reading allegations about yourself on a court form is a shock, and the instinct is to answer everything at once, that evening. Slow down. You have 14 days, and what you send will be read by Cafcass and the judge.

The back of the form has a page headed Response to allegations of harm. It follows the numbered entries in the table and asks for brief comments only. You do not have to complete it, and you will get a chance to make a fuller statement later. It carries its own statement of truth.

• Answer each numbered entry separately. Say what you accept, what you dispute, and what the entry leaves out, with dates.
• Keep your own concerns off the response page. If you have safety worries about the other parent, they belong on your own C1A, returned with your C7.
• Think before you accept anything. The judge must record any admission of domestic abuse made at a hearing in a schedule to the order, and the court makes that order available to the Cafcass officer writing any section 7 report (PD12J, para 15).
• Avoid the blanket denial. It is quick to write, but hard to sustain if any part of the account is later shown to be true.

If the allegations are untrue, our guide to false allegations of domestic violence covers the wider picture.

Mistakes that weaken a C1A form

• Saving it for the hearing. Allegations that appear for the first time on the day can look tactical, and the court has had no chance to arrange safety measures.
• Writing the full statement. The table is a summary. Long narrative buries the entries that matter.
• Contradicting yourself. Describing serious risk in the table, then agreeing to unsupervised time in the steps section, invites an obvious question.
• Leaving the children out. Harm includes what a child sees or hears, so say where the children were.
• Giving away a private address. If you use a C8, check every attachment and screenshot for addresses and phone numbers.
• Treating it as the answer to mediation. Whether you must attend a MIAM is a separate question with its own exemptions, which our C100 form guide explains.

C1A form: frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.