Guaranteed minimum pensions

regulation 164(9)(a) of The Public Service (Civil Servants and Others) Pensions Regulations 2014

• Status not determined
• Strict liability
• Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and tax

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

a a pension that is forfeited— i as a result of a conviction for treason; or ii under regulation 165, in a case where the relevant offence within the meaning of regulation 165 is an offence under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 164(9)(a)?

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 Public Service (Civil Servants and Others) Pensions Regulations 2014.

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 organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales

  How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.

• Fraud, bribery and money laundering offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2014

  Covers fraud, false accounting, bribery and money laundering, including offences committed by organisations.

• 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

23 July 2014

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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

Part 2 of these Regulations establishes a scheme for the payment of pensions and other benefits to civil servants and other persons as determined by the Minister under section 25(5) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (c.25). The scheme so established is a career average revalued earnings scheme. Part 3 contains governance provisions including delegation of the scheme manager’s functions and establishment of the Civil Service Pension Board and a scheme advisory board. Part 4 provides for scheme membership. It sets out the key concepts of scheme employment and pensionable earnings. It contains eligibility and auto-enrolment provisions. Part 5 provides for the establishment of a member’s pension accounts in relation to a continuous period of pensionable service under this scheme. It also provides for the establishment of a pension credit member’s account. Part 6 provides for a member’s entitlement to payment of retirement benefits including partial retirement benefits and ill-health benefits. It also provides for the assignment of benefits. It sets out the key concept of qualifying service. Part 7 provides for benefits for pension credit members. Part 8 provides for death benefits payable to surviving adults and eligible children and for payment of lump sum benefits. It also provides for the recovery and suspension of the payments in certain cases. Part 9 provides for the payment of contributions by members and employers. Part 10 provides for making and receiving transfer payments. Part 11 provides for actuarial valuations and employer cost cap. Part 12 contains supplementary provisions on payment of pensions, forfeiture and set off, payment and deduction of tax and miscellaneous provisions including the determination of questions. Schedule 1 makes provision for payments for extra pension. Schedule 2 makes transitional provision. An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no impact on the costs of business or the voluntary sector is foreseen.

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.

• Energy Bill [HL] Lords · 19 October 2015

  6: After Clause 2, insert the following new Clause— “Pensions (1) The persons to whom section 1 of the Superannuation Act 1972 (persons to or in respect of whom benefits may be provided by schemes under that section) applies are to include the employees of the OGA. (2) Accordingly, in Schedule 1 to that Act (employment to which superannuation schemes may extend), in the list of other bodies, at the appropriate…

• Energy BILL [Lords] (First sitting) Commons · 26 January 2016 · Dr Whitehead

  I feel puzzled about some of the arrangements that are set out in these clauses, particularly the transfer of staff to the OGA from DECC, which is referred to in clause 4. It states: “The Secretary of State may make… transfer schemes under which persons who hold employment in the civil service of the State become employees of the OGA” —in other words, they are not civil servants. Under the clause, the Secretary of…

Other offences in the same instrument

• Guaranteed minimum pensions for surviving spouses and civil partnersregulation 120(5)
• Guaranteed minimum pensions for surviving spouses and civil partnersregulation 120(5)(b)
• Guaranteed minimum pensionsregulation 164(9)
• Guaranteed minimum pensionsregulation 164(9)(a)(ii)

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 0.62.

Basis

the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens

Confidence

0.62 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 Public Service (Civil Servants and Others) Pensions Regulations 2014 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and taxOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 2014