Amendment of the Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Regulations 2012

regulation 3(2) of The Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Amendment and Prescribed Bodies Regulations 2013

Status not determined
Strict liability
TV licensing, fare evasion and school attendance

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

2 In regulation 2 (interpretation)—
a in the definition of “council tax reduction scheme” after “Schedule 1A to that Act” add “and (in Wales) includes
a default scheme within the meaning of paragraph 6(1)(e) of Schedule 1B to that Act”;
b after the definition of “disabled person’s badge” insert— “the healthy start scheme” means the scheme established by the Healthy Start Scheme and Welfare Food (Amendment) Regulations 2005; ;
c after the definition of “landlord” insert— “local welfare provision” means occasional financial or other assistance given by
a local authority, the Scottish Ministers or the Welsh Ministers, or
a person authorised to exercise any function of theirs or providing
a service to them, to or in respect of individuals for the purpose of— meeting, or helping to meet, an immediate short term need— arising out of an exceptional event or exceptional circumstances; and that requires to be met in order to avoid
a risk to the well-being of an individual; or enabling individuals to establish or maintain
a settled home, where those individuals have been or, without the assistance, might otherwise be— in prison, hospital,
a residential care establishment or other institution; or homeless or otherwise living an unsettled way of life; ;
d after the definition of “non-statutory assistance” insert— “offence relating to
a council tax reduction” means— any criminal offence in connection with the making of an application for
a reduction under
a council tax reduction scheme; any criminal offence in connection with the award of
a reduction under
a council tax reduction scheme; any criminal offence committed for the purpose of facilitating the commission (whether or not by the same person) of an offence of
a kind referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); or any attempt or conspiracy to commit an offence of
a kind referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); ;
e in the definition of “the troubled families programme”, for “the troubled families programme” means the programme of assistance provided by local authorities” substitute ““troubled families programme” means any programme of assistance provided by
a local authority”;
f after the definition of “troubled families programme” (as amended by the preceding sub-paragraph) insert— “universal credit” means universal credit under Part
1 of the 2012 Act. .

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 local authority
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 local authority 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 3(2)?

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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Amendment and Prescribed Bodies Regulations 2013.

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.

Sentencing children and young people: definitive guideline Youth courts and all courts sentencing those under 18 · in force from 1 June 2017
Applies whenever the defendant is under 18, whatever the offence.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 27 February 2013
In force from: 1 April 2013
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

These Regulations are made under sections 131 to 133 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (c.5) (“the 2012 Act”) which prescribe the information-sharing permitted in relation to welfare services, council tax and social security benefits. Regulation 2 prescribes additional Scottish bodies and Welsh bodies under section 131 of the 2012 Act. Section 131(3) allows the Secretary of State to prescribe the purposes for which information may be supplied by one qualifying person (defined in section 131(11)) to another. Section 131(6) and (8) ensure that this power does not overlap with devolved competence in relation to information held by a Welsh body or Scottish body. Regulation 2 ensures that the Scottish Ministers and Welsh Ministers (and persons authorised to exercise any function of theirs, or providing services to them, relating to welfare services) are respectively Scottish bodies and Welsh bodies for these purposes. Regulation 3 amends the Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/1483) (“the principal Regulations”) which prescribe the extent of the information-sharing which is permitted under sections 131 to 133 of the 2012 Act. Section 131(1) of the 2012 Act allows the Secretary of State or a service provider to supply relevant information to a qualifying person (these terms are defined in section 131(11) and (12)). Regulation 3(3) amends regulation 5 of the principal Regulations, which prescribes the purposes for which such information may be supplied. Section 131(3) allows a qualifying person who holds relevant information for a prescribed purpose to use that information, or supply it to another qualifying person, for use in relation to a prescribed purpose. Regulation 3(4) amends regulation 6 of the principal Regulations, which prescribes the purposes for which relevant information may be held in order for it to be used or supplied in this way. Regulation 3(5) amends regulation 7 of the principal Regulations, which prescribes purposes for which local authorities may use or supply relevant information. Regulation 3(6) amends regulation 8 of the principal Regulations, which permits the use and supply of information for purposes connected to a troubled families programme (defined in regulation 2 of the principal Regulations as amended by regulation 3(2) of these Regulations). The effect of this (along with the prescription of a new qualifying person in regulation 3(10)) is that local authorities, their service providers and persons carrying out activities pursuant to a troubled families programme can use and supply information to each other for any purposes connected with such programmes. Regulation 3(8) amends regulation 9 of the principal Regulations to allow local authorities and social landlords to provide assistance to any person in receipt of a relevant social security benefit affected by the benefit cap or rules relating to under-occupation. Regulation 3(9) inserts two new regulations into the principal Regulations. The first relates to the use and supply of relevant information by the Department of Health and its service providers for purposes relating to the healthy start scheme. The second (subject to an exception in relation to devolved matters inserted by regulation 3(12)) relates to the use and supply of relevant information by qualifying persons for purposes relating to local welfare provision. Definitions of “the healthy start scheme” and “local welfare provision” are inserted into the principal Regulations by regulation 3(2). Regulation 3(10) substitutes the existing regulation 10 of the principal Regulations and prescribes qualifying persons for the purposes of troubled families programmes, the healthy start scheme and local welfare provision. It also applies to them (with the exception of the Secretary of State for Health, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers) the provisions of section 132 of the 2012 Act, which make it an offence to disclose without lawful authority personal information obtained by virtue of section 131(1), (3) or (4) of that Act. Regulation 3(13) to (15) amend the provisions of the principal Regulations relating to the sharing of information for prescribed purposes relating to council tax, principally to cover information supplied or held for purposes connected to offences relating to a council tax reduction (a definition of which is added by regulation 3(2)). Regulation 3(16) adds a new Part 5 to the principal Regulations. The new regulation 16 prescribes purposes for which relevant information must be held by a qualifying person in order for them to supply this to the Secretary of State or persons providing services to the Secretary of State for purposes set out in the new regulation 17, relating to a relevant social security benefit (defined in section 131(12) of the 2012 Act). Other amendments made by these Regulations are consequential, or correct minor drafting errors in the principal Regulations. A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the private sector or civil society organisations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

d after the definition of “non-statutory assistance” insert— “offence relating to a council tax reduction”…regulation 3(2)(d)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Amendment and Prescribed Bodies Regulations 2013 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
TV licensing, fare evasion and school attendanceOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2013