UK Offence Report

1 A contravention of any of the provisions of regulations 5 to 7 and 12 to 28 shall be an offence.

regulation 32(1) of The Domiciliary Care Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

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 of any of the provisions of regulations 5 to 7 and 12 to 28 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 32(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Domiciliary Care Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007, 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
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
4 April 2007
In force from
30 April 2007
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 (“the Order”). 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 domiciliary care agencies, by the Regulation and Improvement Authority. It also provides powers to make regulations governing the conduct of establishments and agencies. Regulation 3 deals with prescribed services. Regulation 4 excepts certain undertakings from being a domiciliary care agency. Regulation 5, provides that each agency must prepare a statement of purpose in relation to the matters set out in Schedule 1 and a service user’s guide to the agency (regulation 6). The agency must be carried on in a manner which is consistent with the statement of purpose. Regulations 8 to 12 make provision about the fitness of the persons carrying on and managing an agency and require satisfactory information to be obtained in relation to the matters specified in Schedule 2. Where the provider is an organisation, it must nominate a responsible individual in respect of whom this information must be available (regulation 8). Regulation 9 prescribes the circumstances where a manager must be appointed in respect of the agency, and regulation 10 makes provision concerning the fitness of the manager. Regulation 11 imposes general requirements in relation to the proper conduct of the agency, and the need for appropriate training. Regulations 13 to 30 make provision in relation to the conduct of agencies, in particular about the quality of services to be provided by an agency. Regulation 13 makes provision about the fitness of domiciliary care workers and requires satisfactory information to be obtained in relation to the matters specified in Schedule 3. Regulations 14 and 15 set out the arrangements that must be made by a registered person relating to the conduct of an agency generally and also the procedures which must be implemented in circumstances where domiciliary care workers are supplied to persons by an agency acting otherwise than as an employment agency. In addition, provision is made as to staffing (regulation 16), the staff handbook (regulation 17), the provision of information to service users (regulation 18), the disclosure of information (regulation 19), the identification of domiciliary care workers (regulation 20), record keeping (regulation 21 and Schedule 4) and complaints (regulation 22). Regulations 23 and 24 deal with evaluating of the quality of service provision, and the assessment of the quality of services. Provision is also made for an improvement plan. Provision is also made about the suitability of premises (regulation 25) and the financial management of the agency (regulation 26). Regulations 27 to 30 deal with the giving of notices to the Regulation and Improvement Authority. Regulations 31 to 32 deal with miscellaneous matters. In particular, regulation 32 provides for offences. A breach of regulations 5 to 7 and 12 to 28 may found an offence on the part of the registered person. However, no prosecution may be brought unless the Regulation and Improvement Authority has given notice which sets out in what respect it is alleged he is not complying with a regulation, and what action (if any), and by when, the Regulation and Improvement Authority considers is necessary in order to comply with the regulation.

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