Surrender and compensation scheme in Scotland for certain offensive weapons: guidance

4. How to surrender

Knives and other offensive weapons

During the three-month surrender period, you will be able to surrender the item(s) listed in Annex A to your local designated Police Scotland station. You can find out your nearest designated Police Scotland station at Annex E in this guidance, by checking the mygov.scot website and Police Scotland's website.

You must only surrender your items to your local designated police station from Monday to Friday. You should check Police Scotland's website to confirm the opening of times of the designated station where you intend to surrender your item as it varies considerably across the country. You must also take all reasonable steps to make any item(s) that you are surrendering safe to handle while travelling to the designated police station and while on police premises.

Items should be made safe to handle for yourself and for the police and must be contained in a manner that allows them to be transported without causing distress or alarm to other members of the public, including members of the public who might be at the designated police station where you intend to surrender your items. For example, items must be wrapped up and placed in a bag or box where possible. They must not be carried on your person at any time (i.e. must not be in your pockets or other items of clothing). Once in the Police Scotland station, you should explain the purpose of your visit and wait for instruction from the police officer or member of police staff and, specifically, must not take out the item until you are requested to do so by a police officer or member of police staff.

As mentioned above, if you want to claim compensation for any item(s) that you are surrendering, you need to complete the Surrender and Compensation Scheme Claim Form and hand this over to Police Scotland when you surrender the item(s). The form will not be provided to you at police stations.

If claiming compensation, you will also need to bring with you photo-evidence to confirm your identity (such as a valid passport or driving licence) and, where possible, evidence to establish that you are the legal owner of the item(s) that you are surrendering. If you do not have a valid passport or driving licence, two pieces of non-photographic (e.g. bank card/utility bill) or a National Entitlement Card will be deemed suitable evidence.

If it is difficult (because of an underlying health or mobility issue) for the legal owner to attend a designated police station they should call 101 in order to make suitable arrangements for the surrender of those items and the claim form (if claiming compensation).

You must submit your claim form to Police Scotland at the same time you surrender your item(s) at a designated police station. Claims for compensation submitted at a different time or on a later date will not be accepted. If you surrender your item(s) to the police, you will not be able to recover them in order to surrender and claim compensation at a later date.

You should review the list of the weapons that will be subject to general prohibition and ensure you understand which are eligible for compensation, should you wish to make a claim. If you bring an item to a designated police station that is not covered by the scheme you will still be able to surrender the item(s) during the operation of the scheme but you will not be eligible for compensation for those items.

Police Scotland will take reasonable steps to verify your ownership and eligibility under the scheme based on the evidence provided, including verifying that the item you are surrendering is one covered under the scheme. Police Scotland will then take possession of the item(s) and provide you with a receipt if you are seeking compensation. It is important to note, if there is any doubt about the ownership of an item, it should still be surrendered to the police along with the claim form in order for the Scottish Government to assess the claim.

The receipt will provide you with a unique reference number in relation to the item(s) you surrender for the purpose of tracking the compensation claim. You must keep this unique reference number safe, as it may be required later if the Scottish Government contact you about your claim.

A copy of your compensation claim form and supporting documents (if appropriate) will then be sent by Police Scotland to the Scottish Government where it will be considered. The Scottish Government will contact you once the claim has been considered.

The fact that Police Scotland accept your surrendered item(s) and compensation claim form does not guarantee that you will receive compensation. Your claim will be considered by the Scottish Government and Police Scotland have no role in this process. Any queries about your claim should be made to the Scottish Government at OWACompensationSchemeEnquiries@gov.scot and not Police Scotland.

The Checklist provided at Annex C may help you to ensure that you have completed all the steps needed to successfully surrender your item(s).