UK Offence Report

Unauthorised disclosure of information received under regulation 18

regulation 19(1) of The Childcare Act 2016 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2016

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 person commits an offence if the person discloses any information—

a which the person received by virtue of paragraph (1) or (4) of regulation 18; and

b which relates to

a particular person; unless the information is disclosed in accordance with paragraph (2) of this regulation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 19(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 Childcare Act 2016 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2016.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
1 year

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.

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
19 December 2016
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.

These Regulations are the first Regulations made under powers contained in the Childcare Act 2016 (c.5). The Regulations make further provision about free childcare for young children of working parents in England. Regulation 3 sets out the conditions for a child to qualify as a child of working parents for the purposes of section 1(2)(c) of the Childcare Act 2016. Regulations 4 to 10 specify the conditions relating to a parent, and any partner of the parent of the young child. Regulations 11 to 16 make provision regarding the declaration which must be made in respect of the young child. Regulation 17 makes provision regarding the determination that the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs must make as to whether the young child meets some of the criteria to be a qualifying child of working parents. Regulations 18 and 19 make provision regarding the sharing of information with the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to assist it in making determinations under regulation 17. Regulations 20 to 24 make provision regarding applications for review and appeals of determinations made under regulation 17. Regulations 25 to 32 make provision regarding penalties for inaccurate, false, misleading information or actions in connection with a determination made under regulation 17. Regulations 33 to 38 make provision regarding English local authorities’ duty to secure that early years provision is available free of charge. Regulations 40 to 43 make amendments to primary legislation consequential to the provision made in these Regulations. A paper version of Destitution Domestic Violence concession referred to in regulation 12(1)(d)(ii) may be obtained by writing to the Home Office at 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF. An 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

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