UK Offence Report

The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012

regulation 8(6) of The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) 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

6 In Schedule 2 (absent voting at PCC elections)—

a after paragraph 9 (offences as to declarations or forms used for purposes of postal and proxy vote applications) insert— Offence of handling postal voting documents by political campaigners 9A

1 A person who is

a political campaigner in respect of

a PCC election commits an offence if the person handles

a postal voting document that has been issued to another person for use in that election.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

n organisation which provides care for, the other person. 4 It is a defence for a person charged with the offence to show that the person did not dishonestly handle the postal voting document for the purpose of promoting a particular outcome at a PCC election. 5 Where sufficient evidence is adduced to raise an issue with respect to the defence under sub-paragraph (4), the court

What would breach regulation 8(6)?

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 Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
20 November 2023
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W+S+NI

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 amendments to subordinate legislation in consequence of provisions contained in the Elections Act 2022 (c. 37) (“the Act”). The amendments made by these Regulations complement provisions in the Act relating to the handling of postal voting documents by political campaigners (section 4); handing in postal voting documents (section 5); the requirements relating to secrecy (section 7); and the simple majority system to be used in elections for certain offices (section 13). The provisions relating to the handing in of postal voting documents set out new procedures which will apply to the handing in of postal voting documents at polling stations and to the returning officer for UK Parliamentary elections and various other polls in England. The amendments relating to the handling of postal voting documents by political campaigners and requirements relating to secrecy ensure provisions consistent with those contained in the Act apply across relevant electoral subordinate legislation. Additionally, these Regulations update prescribed forms for use at elections, referendums and recall petitions as a consequence of these new provisions. Regulations 2 and 3 amend the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/341) and the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/497), respectively, to set out new provisions relating to procedures for the handing in of postal voting documents at polling stations and to the returning officer for UK Parliamentary elections and certain local government elections in England. Regulation 4 makes a small amendment to the Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/294) in consequence of the amendments made by section 13 of the Act to the system of election for the Mayor of London. Regulations 5 and 11 amend the Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1024) and the Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/67), respectively, to apply consequential amendments relating to the new procedures for the handing in of postal voting documents at polling stations and to the returning officer in England, specifically in relation to certain mayoral elections. Regulations 6, 7 and 9 amend the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/323), the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (Council Tax Increases) (England) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/444), and the Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2031), respectively. Regulations 6, 7 and 9 make consequential amendments to those statutory instruments in relation to the new procedures for the handing in of postal voting documents at polling stations and to the counting officer in England, specifically in relation to local referendums. The amendments made by those regulations also ensure that new restrictions relating to the handling of postal voting documents by political campaigners provided for by the Act will apply in relation to the handling of postal voting documents at local referendums in England. Finally, the amendments also ensure that new requirements relating to secrecy for postal and proxy votes provided for by the Act will apply to postal and proxy voting at local referendums in England. Regulation 8 amends the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/1917) to set out the new provisions which will apply at police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales relating to: the handling of postal voting documents by political campaigners; handing in postal voting documents at polling stations and to the returning officer; and requirements for secrecy. Regulation 12 updates Welsh and English versions of prescribed forms in Schedule 3 to the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Welsh Forms) Order 2021 (S.I. 2021/291) equivalent to the form updates made by regulation 8 to the 2012 Order. Regulation 10 amends the Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/295) to set out the new provisions which will apply to recall petitions for the recall of MPs in relation to: the handling of postal petition documents by political campaigners; handing in postal petition documents; and requirements for secrecy. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public 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.

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 0.92.

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