UK Offence Report

Criminal offence

regulation 121 of The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

121 Any failure by the supplier to supply relevant information to the requirer as, when and how required under regulations 117 to 120 shall be an offence under section 113 of the Administration Act and there may be recovered from the supplier, on summary conviction for this offence, penalties not exceeding—

a for any one offence, level

3 on the standard scale; or

b for an offence of continuing any such failure after conviction, £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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 supplier
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 supplier 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 121?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Social Security (Child Benefit Disregard) Regulations 2008
Revoked on
5 January 2009
Made
2 February 2006
In force from
6 March 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 consolidate existing provisions relating to housing benefit for claimants who have not attained the qualifying age for state pension credit and for those who have attained that age and are receiving, or whose partner is receiving, income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance. In the case of a woman the qualifying age for state pension credit is pensionable age and in the case of a man it is the age which is pensionable age in the case of a woman born on the same day as the man (section 1(6) of the State Pension Credit Act 2002). Provisions relating to those claimants who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit other than those who are, or whose partner is, receiving income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance are contained in the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the Qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006. Part 1 of the Regulations contains general provisions relevant to these Regulations. The Regulations consolidated by these Regulations are revoked, in consequence of the consolidation, by the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006 (“the Consequential Provisions Regulations”). These Regulations are to be read, where appropriate, with the Consequential Provisions Regulations. Part 2 makes provision in regard to the circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home and is or is not to be treated as liable to make payments for a dwelling. Part 3 specifies those payments by way of rent which are to be eligible for the payment of housing benefit and for determinations and redeterminations by rent officers in rent allowance cases. Part 4 specifies the circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as responsible for another person and who is to be treated as a member of the same household as a claimant for housing benefit. Part 5 and Schedule 3 provide for the calculation of the applicable amount in respect of a person’s entitlement to housing benefit, by reference to which the amount of his benefit is calculated. Provision is made with respect to polygamous marriages and persons receiving free in-patient treatment in a hospital. Part 6 provides for the calculation of the income and capital of a claimant for housing benefit, the earnings of employed and self-employed earners, the treatment of income other than earnings including notional income, with the sums to be disregarded set out in Schedules 4 and 5. Calculation of capital is also dealt with, with capital to be disregarded set out in Schedule 6. Part 7 provides for the treatment of students, their entitlement to housing benefit and the calculation of their income. Part 8 specifies the maximum amount of housing benefit payable in any case and any deductions which are to be made from that maximum. Part 9 contains provisions as to when housing benefit is to begin together with provisions relating to change of circumstances and the date those changes take effect. Part 10 provides for the making, amendment and withdrawal of claims, the evidence and information required in connection with claims and the duty to notify changes of circumstances. Part 11 provides for the determination of questions arising on claims and the notification of decisions by authorities. Part 12 provides for the payment of housing benefit including to whom payments are to be made and the withholding of benefit. Part 13 provides for the recovery of overpaid benefit, what constitutes a recoverable overpayment and the method of recovery. Part 14 provides for the collection, recording and holding of information. It also provides for the supply of information between local authorities. Part 15 provides for the housing benefit scheme to be modified in the area of Pathfinder authorities. Part 1 of Schedule 10 identifies those local authorities which operate the Pathfinder provisions in their area and Part 2 of that Schedule specifies the modifications which apply in their area.

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 0.88.

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