Social Care Tribunals

article 50(6) of The Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003

• Status not determined
• Strict liability
• Either way
• Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and tax

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

6 Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with—

a any requirement imposed by the rules by virtue of paragraph (3)(f);

b any requirement in respect of the discovery or inspection of documents imposed by the rules by virtue of paragraph (3)(h); or

c any requirement imposed by the rules by virtue of paragraph (3)(j), is liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

Strict liability

Burden of proof

An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

6 Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with— a any requirement imposed by the rules by virtue of paragraph (3)(f); b any requirement in respect of the discovery or inspection of documents imposed by the rules by virtue of paragraph (3)(h); or c any requirement imposed by the rules

What would breach article 50(6)?

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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, by the time it requires it to be done.
2. 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

£1,000

Standard scale

Level 3

Maximum prison (summary)

6 months

Maximum prison (on indictment)

5 years

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.

• Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales

  How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.

• Fraud, bribery and money laundering offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2014

  Covers fraud, false accounting, bribery and money laundering, including offences committed by organisations.

• 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

27 February 2003

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

This Order makes provision for the protection of children and vulnerable adults.

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.

• Protection Of Children And Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 Lords · 12 February 2003
• Commons Amendments Lords · 13 November 2003

  In paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, after sub-paragraph (n) insert— "(o) any offence under any of sections 17 to 23 and 49 to 52 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003."

• Children: Protection Lords · 2 March 2004 · Lord Rogan

  My Lords, I am also most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, for bringing this important debate to the Floor of the House. Stopping unsuitable people from working with children is an important matter, especially from a Northern Ireland perspective. The noble Lord, Lord Harrison, alluded to the fact that we are the only part of the United Kingdom with a land boundary with another EU state. With the very…

• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill [HL] Lords · 28 March 2006 · Baroness Walmsley

  My Lords, I, too, very much welcome the Bill, and I believe that the framework that it proposes will make children and vulnerable adults safer than they were before. If I express any concerns or propose any changes, they will be ones that will improve the Bill without interfering with the powers of the Independent Barring Board to set up and maintain an effective system to protect children; indeed, they will…

Other offences in the same instrument

• For the purposes of this Chapter, an individual commits an offence against a child if— a he commits any…article 22(1)
• An individual who is disqualified from working with children is guilty of an offence if he knowingly applies…article 30(1)
• An individual is guilty of an offence if he knowingly— a offers work in a regulated position to, or procures…article 30(2)
• Effect of inclusion in listarticle 46(5)
• Effect of inclusion in listarticle 46(6)
• A person falls within this paragraph if— a he commits an offence under section 16 of the Offences against…paragraph 3 of SCHEDULE
• a he commits an offence under section 16 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (c. 100) (threats to…paragraph 3(a) of SCHEDULE
• b he commits an offence under section 1 of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 (c. 45) (incest by a man) by…paragraph 3(b) of SCHEDULE
• c she commits an offence under section 2 of that Act (incest by a woman) by allowing a child to have sexual…paragraph 3(c) of SCHEDULE
• d he commits an offence under section 9(1)(a) of the Theft (Northern Ireland) Act 1969 (c. 16) (burglary),…paragraph 3(d) of SCHEDULE
• e he commits an offence under section 4(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (c. 38) by— i supplying or…paragraph 3(e) of SCHEDULE
• f he commits an offence under Article 7 of the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 (NI 19)…paragraph 3(f) of SCHEDULE

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 0.72.

Basis

the provision states liability on summary conviction

Confidence

0.72 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 Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and taxOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 2003