UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 8 of The Occupational Pension Schemes (Auditors) Regulations 1987

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

8 Any person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes or fails to comply with any requirement imposed on him by regulation 3(7), 4 or 5 shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding £400 or where the offence consists of continuing any such contravention or failure after conviction thereof, £40 for each day on which it is so continued.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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

8 Any person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes or fails to comply with any requirement imposed on him by regulation 3(7), 4 or 5 shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding £400 or where the offence consists of continuing any such contravention or failure after conviction

What would breach regulation 8?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes or fails to comply with any requirement imposed on him by regulation 3(7), 4 or 5.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Occupational Pension Schemes (Auditors) Regulations 1987 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£400
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
25 June 1987
In force from
27 July 1987
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 either section 56P of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 (“the 1975 Act”) or section 54(1) of the Social Security Act 1986 (“the 1986 Act”) before the expiry of the period of 12 months beginning with the bringing into force (on 6th April 1987) of section 11 of the 1986 Act (which inserted section 56P into the 1975 Act) and section 54(1) of the 1986 Act. Consequently, by virtue of section 61(5) of the 1986 Act, the provisions of section 61(2) and (3) of the 1975 Act (which, as amended by section 86(1) of, and paragraph 94 of Schedule 10 to, the 1986 Act, require reference to the Occupational Pensions Board of, and a report by the Board on, proposals to make regulations for the purposes of Part III or IV of the 1975 Act), do not apply to them. Regulation 2 provides that these Regulations do not apply to any scheme to which Regulation 7 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 1986 does not apply. Regulation 3 provides for the manner of the appointment, resignation and removal of auditors of occupational pension schemes and for the making of a statement, concerning any circumstances of his resignation or removal which affect the interests of members or prospective members of the scheme, by any such auditor when he resigns or is removed. The trustees of a scheme must furnish the next auditor who is appointed, and any remaining auditor, with any such statement. Regulation 4 provides for the disclosure of information by employers of members and prospective members of a scheme and auditors of such employers, to the trustees, or managers of the scheme and to the auditors of it. Regulation 5 provides for the disclosure of information by trustees of a scheme to the auditors of it. Regulation 6 provides for the making of a statement by an auditor who considers that he has failed to obtain all the information which is necessary for the purposes of his audit. Regulation 8 provides for offences and penalties in respect of the contravention of the provisions of regulations 3(7), 4 or 5.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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