UK Offence Report

9 If any person— a acts as a child minder on domestic premises at any time when he is disqualified by…

article 132(9) of The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

9 If any person—

a acts as

a child minder on domestic premises at any time when he is disqualified by regulations made under Article 122; or

b provides day care for children under the age of twelve on premises (other than domestic premises) at any time when he is so disqualified; or

c contravenes paragraph (3), (4) or (5) of Article 122, he shall be guilty of an offence.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach article 132(9)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Revoked
Revoked by
Magistrates' Courts (Domestic Proceedings) Rules (Northern Ireland) 1996
Revoked on
4 November 1996
Made
15 March 1995
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order replaces the provisions of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 which are the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Services and also amends the law relating to illegitimacy and guardianship. Part II makes the welfare of a child the court’s paramount consideration in certain proceedings (Article 3) and defines the concept of parental responsibility for the purposes of the Order (Article 6). Part III provides for various orders with respect to children in family proceedings. Part IV imposes general and specific duties on Health and Social Services Boards and Health and Social Services trusts towards children in need and their families and towards children looked after by Boards or trusts. Part V provides for care and supervision orders and Part VI provides for child assessment orders and orders for the emergency protection of children. Parts VII to IX regulate homes provided for children by Health and Social Services Boards, Health and Social Services trusts, voluntary organisations and others. Parts X and XI make provision relating to private arrangements for fostering children and child minding and day care for children under twelve. Part XII imposes restrictions on the employment of children and on performances involving children. Part XIII contains general provisions relating to the Department of Health and Social Services' supervisory functions and responsibilities. Part XIV provides for parents not being married to each other to have no effect in law on relationships deduced through parents. Part XV provides for the appointment of guardians. Part XVI contains provisions relating to jurisdiction and procedure and Part XVII contains miscellaneous and general provisions.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source