UK Offence Report

Transitional and savings provisions

article 3(1)(b) of The Welfare Reform Act 2007 (Commencement No. 7, Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2008

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

b section 95 (under which

a person is guilty of an offence if he makes an unauthorised disclosure of information).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 3(1)(b)?

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 makes an unauthorised disclosure of information).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (Commencement No. 7, Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2008.

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
4 August 2008
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 brings into force the following sections of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (“the Act”): a section 42 (information relating to certain benefits); b section 43 (unlawful disclosure of certain information); c section 50 (widowed mother’s allowance); d section 51 (widowed parent’s allowance); and e section 67 of, and Schedule 8 to, the Act (repeals), so far as they relate to the repeal of— i sections 94 and 95 of the Local Government Act 2000; and ii paragraphs 26 and 28 of Schedule 3 to the Tax Credits Act 2002. Section 42 relates to information sharing for purposes connected with “welfare services” and certain income-related benefits. Section 43 creates an offence of unlawful disclosure of certain information so shared. The Order also brings into force the repeal of sections 94 and 95 of the Local Government Act 2000 which set out, respectively, an existing information sharing provision relating to welfare services and income-related benefits and a related unauthorised disclosure of information provision. Section 42 is to come into force for the purposes of making regulations and orders on the day after the day on which this Order is made. The other related provisions (and section 42 for remaining purposes) are to come into force on 1st September 2008. Section 50 amends section 37(2) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 so that entitlement to widowed mother’s allowance on the ground of being entitled to child benefit is no longer linked to whether one of the conditions specified in section 77(5) of that Act is satisfied. Section 51 amends section 39A(3) of that Act in respect of widowed parent’s allowance in the same way. The Order also brings into force connected repeals. Sections 50 and 51 and the connected repeals are to come into force on 7th October 2008. Article 3 sets out transitional and savings provisions. Paragraphs (1) and (2) provide that where persons have been supplied with information pursuant to section 94 of the Local Government Act 2000: a they will continue to be permitted to supply that information to persons providing qualifying welfare services; and b it will remain an offence for them, in certain circumstances, to disclose that information without lawful authority. Paragraph (3) makes transitional provision relating to entitlement to widowed mother’s allowance and widowed parent’s allowance for the cases to which article 3(2) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2003 applies (broadly speaking, persons entitled to a child dependency increase before 6th April 2003). A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the private or voluntary sectors.

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 is “guilty of 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