UK Offence Report

Penalty for pretending to hold a licence to practise

article 49A(1) of The Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2002

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 If a person who does not hold a licence to practise— a holds himself out as having such a licence; or b engages in conduct calculated to suggest that he has such a licence, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 article 49A(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person does not hold a licence to practise— a holds himself out as having such a licence; or b engages in conduct calculated to suggest that he has such a licence, he.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2002.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
17 December 2002
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order amends the Medical Act 1983 (“the Act”). This Order is made under sections 60 and 62(4) of the Health Act 1999. Under paragraph 9(1) of Schedule 3 to the Health Act 1999, the Secretary of State published a draft of the Order and invited representations to be made on it. A copy of the report about the consultation is available from the Department of Health’s website (www.doh.gov.uk/gmcreform). Article 3 provides for the main objective of the General Medical Council (“the Council”) in exercising its functions to be the protection, promotion and maintenance of the health and safety of the public. Article 4 makes various amendments to Schedule 1 to the Act concerning the constitution of the Council and in particular provides for— the Council to consist of no more than thirty-five members (article 4(1)); an electoral scheme to divide any of the constituencies for elected members into two or more constituencies (article 4(3)(a)); the disclosure of information in an election (article 4(3)(c)); the limitations on the type of bodies that can be designated as appointing bodies to be removed (article 4(4)); the members of the Council who are registered medical practitioners also to hold a licence to practise (article 4(3)(b) and (4)); all the nominated members of the Council to be lay persons (article 4(5)); the Council to make rules for the suspension or removal from office of members (article 4(6)); and the Constitution Order establishing the Council to make provision regarding the filling of casual vacancies amongst the elected members of the Council and for the quorum of the Council (article 4(7) and (8) respectively). Article 5 provides for the abolition of the Interim Orders Committee, the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee, the Assessment Referral Committee, the Committee on Professional Performance and the Health Committee. It provides for the establishment of Interim Orders Panels, Registration Decisions Panels, Registration Appeals Panels, an Investigation Committee and Fitness to Practise Panels as statutory committees of the Council. Article 6 makes changes to Part III of the Act concerning registration of persons qualifying overseas. In particular— section 19 is substituted for a provision limited to EEA nationals and other persons with rights under Community law (article 6(2)); new section 21A is inserted into the Act which provides for full registration of specialists and general practitioners who have qualifications from outside the United Kingdom (article 6(5)); section 22 is amended to allow for a wider range of medical appointments to be specified by the Council for the purposes of obtaining limited registration (article 6(6)); and sections 28 and 29 are repealed thereby providing for the abolition of the Review Board (article 6(11)). Article 7 makes changes to Part IV of the Act (general provisions concerning registration). In particular— it provides for the register of medical practitioners and register of medical practitioners with limited registration to be published, including electronically (article 7(4)); and allows for the Registrar to issue certificates regarding the registration status of a medical practitioner and whether or not a practitioner holds a licence to practise. Article 8 inserts a new section 34B and Schedule 3A concerning registration appeals. Schedule 3A provides for a right of appeal to a Registration Appeals Panel from decisions made under the sections of the Act specified in paragraph 2(1) of that Schedule (appealable registration decisions). There is a right of appeal from a Registration Appeals Panel to the county court or in Scotland to the sheriff. The Schedule in part implements Directive 2001/19/EC (O.J. No. L 206, 31.7.2001, p.1) which inserts article 42d into Directive 93/16/EEC (O.J. No. L 165, 7.7.1993, p.1). A Transposition Note has been prepared and is to be found on the Department of Health’s website at the above address. Article 9 makes further and supplementary provision to articles 6 to 9. In particular, it abolishes the overseas list. Article 10 inserts new sections 29A to 29J into the Act. new section 29A provides for the Council to make regulations with respect to the grant or refusal to grant or withdrawal of a licence to practise by a licensing authority and for the revalidation of medical practitoners; new section 29B makes more detailed provision regarding the power to make regulations under section 29A; new section 29C makes provision for a licensing authority to make a referral to the Investigation Committee where it is concerned about the fitness to practise of a medical practitioner; new section 29D provides for regulations under section 29A to make provision for the restoration of a licence to practise; new section 29E makes provision about evidence; new section 29F provides for an appeal from a decision of a licensing authority to a Registration Appeals Panel. It provides for new Schedule 3B (which is inserted into the Act by article 11 below) to apply to such appeals; new section 29G provides for the Council to publish guidance for medical practitioners relating to revalidation and the restoration of a licence to practise; new section 29H makes provision regarding notices; and new section 29J makes miscellaneous provision. Article 11 inserts a new Schedule 3B into the Act regarding appeals to a Registration Appeals Panel in respect of a decision to refuse to grant or restore, or to withdraw, a licence to practise. It provides for an appeal from a Registration Appeals Panel to the county court or in Scotland to the sheriff. Article 12 makes supplementary provision on the introduction of a licence to practise. In particular, it makes it an offence to pretend to hold a licence to practise (article 12(7)). Article 13 substitutes Part V of the Act (professional conduct and fitness to practise). It provides for the Investigation Committee to investigate allegations that a medical practitioner’s fitness to practise is impaired (new section 35C). A Fitness to Practise Panel will be able to make a direction for the erasure, suspension or conditional registration of a medial practitioner whose fitness to practise it finds is impaired (new section 35D). An Investigation Committee or a Fitness to Practise Panel will be able to give a warning to a practitioner regarding his future conduct or performance (new sections 35C(6) and 35D(3) respectively). New sections 35CC and 35E make provision supplementary to new sections 35C and 35D respectively. New section 41C sets out the effect of a direction for erasure or an order for suspension on the holding of a licence to practise. New section 44A provides for the effect on registration of a conviction or disqualification. Article 14 substitutes Schedule 4 to the Act (proceedings before the Professional Conduct, Health and Preliminary Proceedings Committees) with new provisions relating to the Investigation Committee, Interim Orders Panels and Fitness to Practise Panels. Article 15 makes miscellaneous amendments to the Act. In particular, it provides for the Council to— submit annual reports to the Privy Council (article 15(4)); co-operate with public authorities and other bodies or persons (article 15(7)); and inform medical practitioners and the public about their work and the exercise of their functions (article 15(7)). Article 16 and Schedules 1 and 2 make consequential, transitional, transitory and savings provisions relating to other provisions in the Order.

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.

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 0.72.

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