UK Offence Report

Fines or maximum fines expressed as proportions

regulation 3(2) of The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Fines on Summary Conviction) Regulations 2015

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 Part 2 of Schedule 3 contains amendments to provide for powers which can be exercised to create an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine expressed as a proportion of £5,000 or more (however that amount is expressed) to be exercisable to create an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine of that proportion of an amount specified or described.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Fines on Summary Conviction) Regulations 2015.

Penalty

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

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
11 March 2015
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W

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 in relation to fines and maximum fines which may be imposed on summary conviction, for the purpose of implementing section 85 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (“the Act”). Section 85(1) of the Act, which is commenced alongside these Regulations, provides that a relevant offence which is, on the commencement day, punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine of £5,000 or more (however expressed) becomes punishable on summary conviction by a fine of any amount. An offence is relevant if, immediately before the commencement of section 85(1), it is a common law offence or it is contained in an Act or an instrument made under an Act (whether or not the offence is in force at that time). These Regulations only apply to England and Wales and nothing in these Regulations affect a fine imposed on conviction in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Regulation 2(1) provides that section 85(1) of the Act does not apply in relation to the offences specified in Schedule 1; and regulation 2(2) introduces Schedule 2, which makes provision for the offences in Schedule 1 to be punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine of an amount specified or described in the amendments. Regulation 3 makes provision pursuant to section 85(8) of the Act, to ensure that provisions for maximum fines which are expressed as proportions of an amount of £5,000 or more (however expressed) continue to work. Regulation 3 introduces Schedule 3, which makes amendments to provide for certain offences punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine expressed as a proportion of £5,000 or more (however expressed) to be instead punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine expressed as a proportion of the amount specified or described in the amendments. Regulation 4 introduces Schedules 4 and 5, which make amendments consequential on section 85 of the Act. Schedule 4 contains amendments to legislation which makes provision for offences to be punishable on summary conviction by a fine or maximum fine expressed as a numerical amount of £5000 or more. In order to assist users of legislation, the Schedule amends the text of the legislation to reflect the provision made by section 85(1) and (2) by changing the references to fines of a numerical amount to references to “a fine”. Schedule 5 contains amendments which (among other things) make alternative provision for non-criminal penalties which are calculated by reference to the maximum penalty on summary conviction in circumstances where that maximum penalty no longer applies (by virtue of section 85(1) or (2) of the Act). Regulation 5 sets out restrictions on the effect of the amendments in these Regulations and reflects the limitations mentioned in section 85(9) of the Act. A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors 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.

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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