UK Offence Report

Interpretation and application

regulation 203(1) of The Police Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

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 This Chapter does not apply to— a a pension that is forfeited— i as a result of a conviction for treason; or ii under regulation 209 (forfeiture: offences committed by members), in a case where the relevant offence within the meaning of that regulation is an offence under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989 b a pension that is commuted under regulation 130 (option for pension credit member to commute whole pension: serious ill-health); or c a pension that is commuted under regulation 202 (commutation of small pensions) where the conditions in regulation 60 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Contracting-out) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (payment of a guaranteed minimum pension as a lump sum) are met,

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 203(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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Police Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015.

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
2 March 2015
In force from
1 April 2015
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 establish a career average revalued earnings scheme for the payment of pensions and other benefits to members of the police service in Northern Ireland. Part 2 provides for establishment of the scheme. Part 3 contains governance provisions including delegation of the scheme manager’s functions and establishment of the Police Pension Board and a scheme advisory board. Part 4 provides for scheme membership. It sets out the key concepts of eligible service and pensionable earnings. It contains eligibility and auto-enrolment provisions. Part 5 provides for the establishment of a member’s pension accounts in relation to a continuous period of pensionable service under this scheme. It also provides for the establishment of a pension credit member’s account. Chapter 1 explains how the amount of accrued pension is calculated Chapter 2 explains how adjustments to amounts of accrued pension are calculated. Chapter 4 provides for the establishment of the active members account. This chapter show how the proportion of pensionable earnings accrued as a pension is revalued each year until the member leaves pensionable service. Chapter 5 provides for the establishment of the deferred member’s account and explains how the provisional amount of each description of deferred pension is calculated. Chapter 6 provides for the establishment of the retirement account. It shows how the amount of retirement earned pension is worked out. . Part 6 provides for compulsory ill-health retirement and early payment of full retirement pension on grounds of permeant medical unfitness. Part 7 provides for a member’s entitlement to payment of retirement benefits. It sets out the key concept of qualifying service. It specifies how the annual rate of pension is calculated for full retirement pensions and ill-health pensions, and provides for review and cancellation of ill-health benefits. Part 8 provides for benefits for pension credit members. Part 9 provides for death benefits. It provides for the recovery and suspension of benefits in certain cases. Part 10 provides the payment of contributions by members and employers. Part 11 provides for making and receiving transfer payments. Part 12 provides for actuarial valuations and employer cost cap. Part 13 contains supplementary provisions on payment of pensions, payment and deduction of tax and miscellaneous provisions including the determination of questions. Schedule 1 provides for appeals against medical decisions and referral of a decision to a medical authority for reconsideration. Schedule 2 list progressive medical conditions Schedule 3 makes provision for payments for added pension. Schedule 4 makes transitional provision. Schedule 5 makes consequential amendment to the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pensions Regulations 1988 - it extends the reinstatement of remarriage of a widow’s pension as from 1st July 2014, to those widows entitled to such a pension under the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pensions Order 1949. An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no impact on the costs of business or the voluntary sector is foreseen.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same 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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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