UK Offence Report

Officials not to act for candidates

article 59(1) of The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012

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 If any person who is— a a police area returning officer or local returning officer at a PCC election, or b a deputy of any such returning officer, or c an officer of a local authority whose services have been placed at the disposal of such a returning officer, or d an officer or clerk appointed under the PCC elections rules, or e a deputy or clerk appointed under regulation 5 of the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Functions of Returning Officers) Regulations 2012, or f a partner or clerk of a person mentioned in any of sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) in connection with that person’s official duties, acts as a candidate’s agent in the conduct or management of the election, the person is guilty of an offence, but nothing in this paragraph prevents a candidate from acting as the candidate’s own election agent.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 59(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 Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
24 July 2012
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 makes provision as to the conduct of elections for a police and crime commissioner (“PCC elections”) for police areas in England and Wales. Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (c.13) provides that each police area in England and Wales, apart from the Metropolitan police district, is to have a police and crime commissioner who is to discharge the functions conferred on the commissioner by that Part of the Act. The commissioner is to be elected in accordance with Chapter 6 of that Part of the Act. The Electoral Commission has been consulted on the draft of this Order, as required by section 7(2)(hc) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c.41). Part 1 of the Order (articles 1 to 3) is general and contains definitions. Part 2 of the Order (articles 4 to 23) makes provision about the franchise for PCC elections and the exercise of that franchise. This includes provision for polling districts and polling places at PCC elections to be aligned with those used for Parliamentary elections. Part 3 of the Order (articles 24 to 73) deals with election campaigns. Existing provisions are amended to extend to PCC elections the requirements for registration of political parties and the controls on campaign expenditure for election purposes by such parties. Also included in Part 3 are controls on donations to individual candidates and pre-candidacy expenses and provisions about election addresses by candidates. Part 4 of the Order (articles 74 to 78), together with Schedule 9, makes provision for legal proceedings. Part 5 of the Order (articles 79 to 89) makes miscellaneous and supplementary provision and includes provision as to what steps are to be taken in the event that a PCC election fails or is declared void. Schedule 1 makes provision about the free supply of the register to police area returning officers and local returning officers for electoral purposes. It also provides for free supply of the register to elected police and crime commissioners and to candidates for election as a police and crime commissioner. Restrictions are imposed on the use of the information that is supplied. Schedule 2 contains provision about absent voting, including related forms. Part 2 of the Schedule makes provision about the issue and receipt of ballot papers and Part 3 provides for access to and supply of absent voting records and lists. Schedule 3 contains the PCC elections rules, including related forms. Elections for police and crime commissioners must be conducted in accordance with these rules. Schedule 4 (together with article 13) makes provision for the combination of polls. Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 4 deal with the combination of the poll at a PCC election with the poll at another election or referendum. Combination may extend to a parliamentary election, a European Parliamentary election, a local government election in England and Wales, an election for the return of an elected mayor in England or an elected mayor in Wales, a referendum in England or Wales about local authority governance or a referendum in England about council tax increases. Part 3 of Schedule 4 contains modifications of the PCC elections rules as they are to apply to combined polls, including certain forms for use in that event. Schedule 5 sets out the controls that are to apply to donations made to individual candidates. Schedule 6 contains the forms for making the returns and declarations as to candidate expenses which are required by articles 34 and 41. Schedule 7 defines what is meant by references to “election expenses” when used in the provisions in Part 3 of the Order which impose restrictions on the election expenses that can be incurred by or on behalf of individual candidates. Schedule 8 (together with article 52) provides for election addresses submitted by a candidate’s election agent to be included on a website maintained by or on behalf of the Secretary of State. Schedule 8 specifies requirements that apply to an election address and the procedure for submitting it. Schedule 9 applies with modifications certain provisions in Part 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 concerning legal proceedings, for the purposes of PCC elections. This includes provision for bringing an election petition to challenge the result at a PCC election. It also applies provisions of the Election Petition Rules 1960 for those purposes. Schedule 10 makes new provision about access to marked copies of the register and other documents which are retained by registration officers after a PCC election.

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 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