UK Offence Report

Class of Offences

article 3(1) of The Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment) Order 2007

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 For the purposes of this Schedule—

a every indictable offence falls within the Class under which it is listed in the Table of Offences and, subject to sub-paragraph (2), indictable offences not specifically so listed will be deemed to fall within Class H;

b conspiracy to commit an indictable offence contrary to section

1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (the offence of conspiracy), incitement to commit an indictable offence and attempts to commit an indictable offence contrary to section

1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 (attempting to commit an offence), fall within the same Class as the substantive offence to which they relate;

c where the Table of Offences specifies that the Class within which an offence falls depends on whether the value involved exceeds

a stated limit, the value must be presumed not to exceed that limit unless the litigator making the claim under article

6 proves otherwise to the satisfaction of the appropriate officer;

d where more than one count of the indictment is for an offence in relation to which the Class depends on the value involved, that value must be taken to be the total value involved in all those offences, but where two or more counts relate to the same property, the value of that property must be taken into account once only;

e where an entry in the Table of Offences specifies an offence as being contrary to

a statutory provision, then subject to any express limitation in the entry that entry will include every offence contrary to that statutory provision whether or not the words of description in the entry are appropriate to cover all such offences;

f where in

a case on indictment there is

a hearing to determine the question of whether an assisted person is unfit to plead or unfit to stand trial, the litigator must elect whether that hearing falls within the same Class as the indictable offence to which it relates or within Class D;

g where in

a case on indictment

a restriction order is made under section

41 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (power of higher courts to restrict discharge from hospital), the offence falls within Class A, regardless of the Class under which the offence would be listed in the Table of Offences, but for this paragraph.

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
an appropriate officer
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 an appropriate officer 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 3(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment) Order 2007.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
18 December 2007
In force from
14 January 2008
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 Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007 (“the 2007 Order”), which makes provision for the funding and remuneration of services provided as part of the Criminal Defence Service. This Order omits the payment provisions for solicitors (and other appropriately qualified persons) for proceedings in the Crown Court, and replaces them with a new fee scheme. It makes minor amendments to the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme, contained in Schedule 1 of the 2007 Order, to clarify the provisions on discontinuance and dismissal and trials lasting over 40 days. It also removes references to Very High Cost Case from 14th January 2008, which on or after that date will be remunerated in accordance with contractual arrangements entered into with the Legal Services Commission. A full impact assessment of the effect of this instrument on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from www.legalservices.gov.uk or from Criminal Legal Aid Strategy Directorate, Ministry of Justice, Selborne House, 54 Victoria Street, London SW1 6QW.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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”
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