UK Offence Report

Aiding unlawful acts

regulation 26(4) of The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

4 A person who knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement such as is referred to in paragraph (3)(a) which in

a material respect is false or misleading commits an offence, and 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 26(4)?

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 knowingly or recklessly makes a statement such as is referred to in paragraph (3)(a) which in a material respect is false or misleading.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. 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
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2006-10-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011
Revoked on
6 April 2011
Made
3 April 2006
In force from
1 October 2006
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which are made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (c. 68), implement (in Great Britain) Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27th November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment (O.J. L 303, 2.12.2000, p.16) so far as it relates to discrimination on grounds of age. The Regulations make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of age in employment and vocational training. They prohibit direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, victimisation, instructions to discriminate and harassment. Direct discrimination, defined in regulation 3(1)(a), arises where a person is treated less favourably than another on grounds of his age or apparent age. Indirect discrimination, defined in regulation 3(1)(b), arises where a provision, criterion or practice, which is applied generally, puts persons of a particular age or age group at a disadvantage. Discrimination will occur where the difference in treatment or disadvantage cannot be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Victimisation, defined in regulation 4, occurs where a person receives less favourable treatment than others by reason of the fact that he has brought (or given evidence in) proceedings, made an allegation or otherwise done anything under or by virtue of the Regulations. Instructions to discriminate are dealt with in regulation 5. It is a form of discrimination to treat a person less favourably than another because he has failed to carry out an instruction to discriminate or because he has complained about receiving such an instruction. Harassment, defined in regulation 6, occurs where a person is subjected to unwanted conduct on grounds of age with the purpose or effect of violating his dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for him. Regulations 7 to 24 prohibit discrimination, victimisation and harassment in the fields of employment and vocational training. In particular, they protect employees (regulation 7), contract workers (regulation 9), office-holders (including police and those seconded to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (regulations 12, 13 and 14)), and partners in firms (regulation 17). They not only prohibit discrimination etc by employers, but also by trustees and managers of occupational pension schemes (regulation 11), trade organisations (regulation 18), qualifications bodies (regulation 19), providers of vocational training (regulation 20), employment agencies (regulation 21) and institutions of further and higher education (regulation 23). By virtue of regulation 24, discrimination, victimisation or harassment occurring after the relevant relationship has ended is unlawful if it arises out of, and is closely connected to, the relationship. The Regulations also apply to Crown servants and Parliamentary staff (regulations 44, 45 and 46). Regulation 43 and Schedule 5 address the validity of discriminatory terms in contracts and collective agreements. Not all differences of treatment on grounds of age are unlawful. There are exceptions: in regulation 27 in relation to acts done in order to comply with a statutory provision; in regulation 28 in relation to acts related to national security; in regulation 29 for positive action; in regulation 30 in relation to retirement; in regulation 31 in relation to the national minimum wage; in regulation 32 in relation to the provision of certain employment benefits based on length of service; in regulation 33 in relation to the provision of enhanced redundancy payments; and in regulation 34 in relation to the provision of life assurance cover to workers who have had to retire early on grounds of ill-health. Regulation 8 provides an exception where possessing a characteristic related to age is a genuine and determining occupational requirement for a post if it is proportionate to apply the requirement in the particular case. Schedule 2 provides exceptions for various rules, practices actions and decisions relating to occupational pension schemes. Regulations 35 to 42 deal with enforcement and provide remedies for individuals, including compensation, by way of proceedings in employment tribunals and in the county or sheriff courts. There are special provisions about the burden of proof in those cases in regulations 37 and 40, which transfer the burden to a respondent to a case once a complainant has established facts from which a court or tribunal could conclude, in the absence of an adequate explanation, that an act of discrimination or harassment has been committed by the respondent. Regulation 41 and Schedules 3 and 4 also include a questionnaire procedure to assist complainants in obtaining information from respondents. Schedule 6 establishes a new duty on employers to consider requests by employees to continue working beyond retirement. Schedule 7 contains transitional provisions in relation to that new duty. Schedule 8 amends legislation containing age-discriminatory provisions that cannot be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It also includes amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18), which introduce a new potentially fair ground for dismissal of employees – dismissal on the grounds of retirement (where the duty to consider procedure in Schedule 6 has been followed). Schedule 9 contains repeals and revocations. A full Regulatory Impact Assessment report of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs to business and a Transposition Note are freely available to the public from the Selected Employment Rights Branch, Bay 391, Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET. Copies have also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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