UK Offence Report

Procedure for reviewing entitlement to registration – correspondence-based review

regulation 7(3)(e) of The Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) Regulations 2023

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

e state that it is an offence to provide false information to the registration officer, and the maximum penalty for that offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 registration officer
Conduct
making a false or misleading statement
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 registration officer 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 7(3)(e)?

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. On these words it is an offence to provide false information to the registration officer, and the maximum penalty for that offence.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) Regulations 2023.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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.

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
25 October 2023
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 make provision related to the change in franchise for citizens of the European Union for local government elections in England, and for Police and Crime Commissioner (“PCC”) elections in England and Wales. Part 2 provides, at Chapter 2, a process for the review of the entitlement of citizens of member States of the European Union to remain registered on the register of local government electors in England following the change in registration criteria in section 4 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) (“the 1983 Act”). Chapter 3 of that Part provides a similar process for the review of the eligibility of registered citizens of member States of the European Union to vote in PCC elections in Wales following the change in eligibility criteria in section 52(1C) of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (c. 13). Chapter 4 of Part 2 also provides for registration officers to supply anonymised information to the Electoral Commission on steps taken in each of the review processes, which (with limited exceptions) is to be concluded by the end of 31st January 2025. Regulation 28 requires the Electoral Commission to create designs of some of the communications and notices to be used by registration officers in these review processes. Part 3 provides for a revised date for the end of which revised versions of certain electoral registers for 2024 must be published by electoral registration officers under section 13 of the 1983 Act. Part 3 also contains transitional provisions relating to PCC elections conducted prior to the end of the review process under Chapter 3 of Part 2. Part 4 makes amendments to the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/341) as to the content of applications for registration on the register of local government electors in England and Wales, due to the changes to registration entitlement and PCC election voting eligibility. The amendments also give a power to registration officers to seek further evidence from applicants where necessary to determine eligibility to vote in PCC elections in Wales. Part 5 makes amendments to the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/1917) (“the 2012 Order”) and the Police and Crime Commissioner (Welsh Forms) Order 2021 (S.I. 2021/291). Amendments to the 2012 Order in relation to England reflect the change in franchise of citizens of the European Union to register on the register of local government electors, and to act as proxies in PCC elections; and amendments in relation to Wales introduce a procedure to review from time to time the eligibility of registered EU citizens to vote in PCC elections in Wales. Part 6 makes amendments to the Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2031) in relation to business referendums, to reflect the revised eligibility of citizens of the European Union to vote on behalf of a business at such a business referendum. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of businesses, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities at 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF and published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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