Late payments by employers to occupational pension schemes

Q: Is article 11(1) of The Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 a strict liability offence?

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly).

article 11(1) of The Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

Status not determined
Requires proof of a state of mind
Either way
TV licensing, fare evasion and school attendance

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

11 If any person is knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the obligation imposed by paragraph (8) in any case, he is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element: Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly.

What would breach article 11(1)?

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.

Not doing what the provision requires under the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, by the time it requires it to be done.
Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment): 7 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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.

Sentencing children and young people: definitive guideline Youth courts and all courts sentencing those under 18 · in force from 1 June 2017
Applies whenever the defendant is under 18, whatever the offence.
Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: Status not determined
Made: 24 November 1999
In force from: Not determined
Extent: Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

This Order, which is made only for purposes corresponding to the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 makes provision about pensions and social security, makes provision for reducing under-occupation of dwellings by housing benefit claimants, authorises certain expenditure by the Department of Health and Social Services and makes other connected provisions.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

Monitoring of employers' payments to personal pension schemesarticle 107A(12)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
TV licensing, fare evasion and school attendanceOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1999