UK Offence Report

1 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 2(1) or 3(1), without…

regulation 16(1) of The Regulation of Care (Fitness of Employees in Relation to Care Services) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2009

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 2(1) or 3(1), without reasonable excuse 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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

ply with any of the provisions of regulations 2(1) or 3(1), without reasonable excuse shall be an offence.

What would breach regulation 16(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 Regulation of Care (Fitness of Employees in Relation to Care Services) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2009, 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 2009
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations specify persons who are not fit to be employed in the provision of a care service, in the position of social worker or social service worker. A social worker (regulation 2) or social service worker (regulation 3) is not fit unless registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). There are specific provisions for commencing employment as a social worker for the first time. A newly qualified social worker must make an application for registration with the SSSC on starting employment. Regulation 4 permits persons taking their first employment as a social worker after qualification to have a limited period in which to achieve registration after starting that employment. There are also specific provisions for social workers who are registered as such in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. Regulation 5 permits social workers a limited period in which to achieve registration with the SSSC after starting employment in Scotland as a social worker. The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 defines a social service worker as a person employed in the provision of a care service. Under that Act registration with the SSSC can only be achieved if a social service worker is already employed as such. Existing residential child care workers, managers of adult day care services and managers of a care home services for adults must have achieved registration by certain dates in 2009 (regulations 7 and 8). Regulation 6 gives new workers of those types a limited period to achieve registration after commencing employment. The registration requirement applies to the other prescribed descriptions of social service worker from the dates specified in regulations 9 to 15. Regulation 16 provides that contravention of specified provisions of these Regulations without reasonable excuse is an offence. Reasonable excuse includes failure to register is due to the actings of a third party, or if it can be demonstrated that the all due diligence and all reasonable steps were taken to avoid committing the offence. These Regulations revoke and replace the Regulation of Care (Fitness of Employees in Relation to Care Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (regulation 17). The substantive difference is to restrict the provisions for new workers achieving registration in regulation 6 to residential child care workers, managers of adult day care services and managers of a care home services for adults rather than social service workers more generally.

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