UK Offence Report

1 A contravention of any of the provisions of regulations 3, 4 and 11 to 32 shall be an offence.

regulation 36(1) of The Residential Family Centres 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 3, 4 and 11 to 32 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Residential Family Centres 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. 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 family centres, by the Regulation and Improvement Authority. It also provides powers for regulations governing the conduct of establishments and agencies. Regulation 3 provides that every residential family centre must prepare a statement of purpose consisting of the matters set out in Schedule 1. Regulation 4 provides for a resident’s guide to the centre. The residential family centre must be conducted in a manner which is consistent with the statement of purpose. In Part II, Regulations 7 to 11 make provision about the persons carrying on and managing the centre, and require satisfactory information to be available in relation to the matters prescribed 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 7). Regulation 8 prescribes the circumstances where a manager must be appointed for the residential family centre, and regulation 10 imposes general requirements in relation to the proper conduct of the centre, and the need for appropriate training. In Part III, regulations 12 to 14 make provision about the conduct of residential family centres, in particular as to the health, welfare, care and education of the residents and as to the protection of children accommodated there. Regulation 15 provides for the registered person to draw up a written plan detailing the provision of services and facilities to families provided with accommodation. Regulation 16 makes provision for the facilities and services to be provided to residents. Provision is also made at regulation 17 about the staffing of residential family centres and at regulations 18 and 19 about the fitness of workers and employment of staff. At regulations 22 and 23, provision is made for record keeping and complaints. Part IV (regulations 25 and 26) makes provision about the fitness of premises, and the fire precautions to be taken. Part V deals with the management of residential family centres. Regulation 27 requires the registered person to monitor the quality of care provided by the centre. Regulation 28 imposes requirements relating to the centre’s financial position. Regulation 29 requires the registered provider to visit the centre as prescribed. Part VI deals with miscellaneous matters, including the giving of notices to the Regulation and Improvement Authority, and notification to the Regulation and Improvement Authority and others of the events listed in Schedule 5. Regulation 36 provides for offences. A breach of the regulations specified in regulation 36 may be an offence on the part of the registered person. However, no prosecution may be brought by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority unless it 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, where it is practicable for him to do so, the action he should take in order to comply and the period for compliance. The notice must also specify the period within which he may make representations about the notice.

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