UK Offence Report

Obstruction etc. of an investigation

regulation 9 of The Social Security Assistance (Investigation of Offences) (Scotland) Regulations 2020

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

9 A person is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale if the person—

a intentionally delays an authorised officer who is conducting any investigation under these Regulations,

b fails to comply with any requirement imposed by or under these Regulations, unless the person has

a reasonable excuse for that failure,

c provides information which the person knows, or ought reasonably to have known, is to

a material extent false or misleading, or

d destroys information that has been required under regulation 4(2) or that may be accessed under regulation 7(3) where the person does so with the intention of avoiding compliance with that requirement or access.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (intentionally, with the intention of) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: both a mens rea word and an objective standard appear in the offence itself; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element).

What would breach regulation 9?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Social Security Assistance (Investigation of Offences) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Scotland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (CP(S)A 1995 s.225(2)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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 January 2020
In force from
24 January 2020
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 make provision for the gathering of information in connection with the investigation of specific offences created by the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”). Regulation 3 sets out the basis on which an individual may be authorised to carry out investigations in connection with the possible commission of an offence under sections 71, 72 or 73 of the 2018 Act. An individual who is so authorised may gather information and seek permission to enter and search premises, in accordance with regulations 4 to 8. Such an individual must be an employee of a public authority and is to be known as an authorised officer. Regulation 4 empowers an authorised officer to issue a notice requiring the provision of information which a person or body is believed to have in their possession and which is thought to be relevant to one or more of the matters that may be investigated in terms of the Regulations. Any information provided in response to such a notice must be destroyed when it is no longer needed. Regulation 5 restricts the power to require information from specified types of body, such as legal advice centres, and bodies providing advocacy services and refuges for persons fleeing domestic abuse. Persons or bodies served with a requirement need not comply with it if the material is subject to legal professional privilege or if they would incriminate themselves or their spouse or civil partner by answering. Regulation 6 sets out procedures for service of notices and prescribes the minimum period that must be allowed for information to be provided. Regulation 7 empowers the Scottish Ministers to require that arrangements are entered into for provision of access to records in electronic form, provided that the access to be taken is covered by the terms of the officer’s authorisation. The arrangements may only provide for access to records containing information which relates to a particular person, and which could be required under regulation 4. An authorised officer who is provided with access to records in terms of this regulation may take copies or extracts of documents, but any copies or extracts must be destroyed once there ceases to be a need to retain them. Regulation 8 makes provision for authorised officers to enter premises. There is no right of entry. An authorised officer must request permission to enter from the occupier, or if nobody is currently occupying the premises, from the owner. If permission is given to enter premises, a further request may be made to conduct a search of them. Again, permission is needed. Access is not permitted to dwelling houses or parts of premises used solely as living accommodation even if permission is given. Regulation 9 makes provision for offences relating to the intentional obstruction of investigations, by providing false information or by destroying information after it has been required. It also creates an offence of failure to comply with a requirement imposed under the Regulations, without reasonable excuse, and of intentionally delaying an authorised officer who is conducting an investigation. A Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Scottish Government Social Security Directorate and online at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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