UK Offence Report

1 A provider commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he contravenes regulation 10(1) or (2).

regulation 11(1) of The Childcare (Childminder Agencies) (Cancellation etc.) Regulations 2014

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 A provider commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he contravenes regulation 10(1) or (2).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 A provider commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he contravenes regulation 10(1) or (2).

What would breach regulation 11(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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Childcare (Childminder Agencies) (Cancellation etc.) Regulations 2014, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2014-09-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
6 August 2014
In force from
1 September 2014
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision about the cancellation, termination and suspension of the registration of providers of childcare who are registered with an early or later years childminder agency for the purposes of Part 3 of the Childcare Act 2006 (“the Act”). They also make provision about the effect of the cancellation of a childminder agency’s registration on providers who are registered with that agency. Regulation 3 sets out the circumstances in which a childminder agency must cancel a provider’s registration. A childminder agency may cancel a provider’s registration in any other circumstances but, in all cases, must follow the procedure outlined in regulation 4. Regulation 5 sets out the procedure to be followed by a childminder agency where a registered provider gives notice that he or she wishes to terminate his or her registration. The agency is generally required to remove the provider from the relevant register which it maintains under Chapter 2, 3 or 4 of Part 3 of the Act. However, the agency must not do so where it has already given notice of its intention to cancel the provider’s registration and has not, since issuing that notice, decided against that step. These restrictions on removal do not apply to providers who wish to terminate their registration under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Act (which provides for a process of voluntarily registration for persons who are otherwise exempt). Regulation 6 sets out the grounds on which a childminder agency may suspend a provider’s registration. Regulations 7 and 8 make further provision about periods of suspension and the lifting of suspension. The effect of suspension of registration is set out in Regulation 10; a provider whose registration is suspended must not provide childcare provision in respect of which the requirement to register arises under Part 3 of the Act. A failure to comply constitutes an offence as set out in Regulation 11. Regulation 9 confers a right of appeal against suspension of registration to the First-tier Tribunal. Regulations 13 and 14 make provision about the effect of cancellation of a childminder agency’s registration on providers registered with that agency. Providers who are still registered with the agency at the time when cancellation takes effect are deemed registered in the relevant register maintained by the Chief Inspector. That is the case unless the provider has indicated to the Chief Inspector that they do not wish to be registered in the early years register or the general childcare register, or both (as the case may be), or the provider is disqualified. In those circumstances, the provider will no longer be registered for the purposes of Part 3 of the Act. An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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