UK Offence Report

1 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13(1) to…

regulation 36(1) of The Residential Care Homes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

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

1 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13(1) to (4) and (7) to (9), 14,

15 to 17, 18(1), (2)(a) to (i) and (k) to (n) and (3),

19 to 24,

27 to 33, shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 36(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.

  1. Not doing what the provision requires under the Residential Care Homes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005, 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
Status not determined
Made
23 March 2005
In force from
1 April 2005
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 Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations are made under the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Part II of the Order establishes the Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services Regulation and Improvement Authority (“the Regulation and Improvement Authority”) and Part III provides for the registration and inspection of establishments and agencies, including residential care homes, by the Regulation and Improvement Authority. It also provides powers for regulations governing the conduct of establishments and agencies. These new arrangements replace the regulatory system provided for in relation to residential care homes by the Registered Homes (Northern Ireland) Order 1992. Under regulation 3, 4 and 5, each home must have a statement of purpose consisting of the matters set out in Schedule 1, and supply a guide of the home to each resident together with a statement giving information about fees payable. Regulations 7 to 10 make provision about the fitness of the persons carrying on and managing the home, and require satisfactory information to be available in relation to certain specified matters. Where an organisation carries on the home, it must nominate a responsible individual in respect of whom this information must be available (regulation 7). Regulation 8 prescribes the circumstances where a manager must be appointed for the home, and regulation 10 imposes general requirements in relation to the proper conduct of the home, and the need for appropriate training. Regulation 17 requires the registered person to establish a system for reviewing and improving the quality of care and other service provision provided by the home. Part III makes provision about the conduct of residential care homes, in particular as to the care, health, safety, welfare and protection of residents, and as to the facilities and services that are to be provided. Provision is also made about record keeping, the staffing of homes, the fitness of workers, and about complaints. Part IV makes provision about the suitability of premises and fire precautions to be taken. Part V deals with the management of homes. Regulation 28 imposes requirements relating to the home’s financial position. Regulation 29 requires the registered person to visit the home as prescribed. Part VI deals with miscellaneous matters including the giving of notices to the Regulation and Improvement Authority. Regulation 36 provides for offences. A breach of the regulations specified in regulation 36 may found an offence on the part of the registered person. However, no prosecution may be brought unless the Regulation and Improvement Authority has first given the registered person a notice which sets out in what respect it is alleged he is not complying with a regulation, and what action the Regulation and Improvement Authority considers it is necessary for him to take in order to comply. The notice must specify a time period for compliance, not exceeding three months.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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