UK Offence Report

1 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 4 and 9 to 28 shall be an…

regulation 31(1) of The Residential Family Centres Regulations 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 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 4 and 9 to 28 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 31(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 Residential Family Centres Regulations 2002, 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
21 December 2002
In force from
1 April 2003
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 the Care Standards Act 2000 (“the Act”) and apply in relation to residential family centres in England only. Part I of the Act establishes, in relation to England, the National Care Standards Commission (“the Commission”) and Part II provides for the registration and inspection of establishments and agencies, including residential family centres, by the Commission. It also provides powers for regulations governing the conduct of establishments and agencies. Regulation 3 excludes certain establishments from the definition of a residential family centre under section 4(2) of the Act. These include most hospitals (in particular health service hospitals as defined in section 128 of the National Health Service Act 1977 and independent hospitals as defined in section 2 of the Act); and independent clinics and care homes as defined in sections 2 and 3 of the Act. An establishment is also excluded from the definition of residential family centre if it is a hostel or domestic violence refuge, or an establishment whose main purpose is to provide accommodation and services to adults. By regulation 4, each centre must prepare a statement of purpose consisting of the matters set out in Schedule 1, and a resident’s guide to the centre. The centre must be conducted in a manner which is consistent with the statement of purpose. Regulations 5 to 9 make provision about the persons carrying on and managing the centre, and require satisfactory information to be available in relation to the matters prescribed in Schedule 2. Where the provider is an organisation, it must nominate a responsible individual in respect of whom this information must be available (regulation 5). Regulation 6 prescribes the circumstances where a manager must be appointed for the centre, and regulation 8 imposes general requirements in relation to the proper conduct of the centre, and the need for appropriate training. In Part III, regulations 10 to 12 make provision about the conduct of residential family centres, in particular as to the health, welfare, care and education of the residents and as to the protection of children accommodated there. Regulations 13 and 14 make provision for the facilities and services to be provided to residents. Provision is also made about the staffing of centres and the fitness of workers, and about record keeping and complaints (regulations 15 to 20). Part IV makes provision about the suitability of premises, and the fire precautions to be taken. Part V deals with the management of residential family centres. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to monitor the quality of care provided by the centre. Regulation 24 imposes requirements relating to the centre’s financial position. Regulation 25 requires the registered provider to visit the centre as prescribed. Part VI deals with miscellaneous matters, including the giving of notices to the Commission, and notification to the Commission and others of the events listed in Schedule 5. Regulation 31 provides for offences. A breach of the regulations specified in regulation 31 may be an offence on the part of the registered person. However, no prosecution may be brought by the Commission unless it has first given the registered person a notice which sets out in what respect it is alleged he is not complying with a regulation and, where it is practicable for him to do so, the action he should take in order to comply and the period for compliance. The notice must also specify the period within which he may make representations about the notice.

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