UK Offence Report

Revision of special administrator’s proposals

regulation 18 of The Water Industry (Special Administration) Regulations 2024

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

5 A special administrator who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with this paragraph commits an 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

5 A special administrator who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with this paragraph commits an offence. .

What would breach regulation 18?

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 an offence is committed where a person fails without reasonable excuse to comply with this paragraph.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Water Industry (Special Administration) Regulations 2024.

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
22 February 2024
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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations extend to England and Wales. These Regulations make provision that contributes to the modernisation of the special administration procedure that applies to water industry companies (“special administration”). Special administration regimes may be initiated by an order of the court under sections 24 and 25 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (c. 56) (“the 1991 Act”). Before the commencement of paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (c. 29) (“the 2010 Act”), the detailed conduct of special administration regimes was governed by an old, saved version of Part 2 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (c. 45) (“the 1986 Act”) as that Part was applied and modified by Schedule 3 to the 1991 Act. The Enterprise Act 2002 (c. 40) modernised ordinary administration procedure by replacing old Part 2 of the 1986 Act with Schedule B1 to the 1986 Act. Paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 to the 2010 Act amends section 23 of the 1991 Act so that Schedule B1 to the 1986 Act applies in relation to the conduct of special administration (instead of old Part 2 of that Act) subject to provision made in regulations such as these (see section 23(3) and (3A) of the 1991 Act). These Regulations perfect the transition from the provisions of old Part 2 of the 1986 Act to those in Schedule B1. In relation to special administration, these Regulations apply, disapply and modify provisions of Schedule B1, the rest of the 1986 Act, the Companies Act 2006 (c. 46) and other provisions that usually apply in relation to or by reference to ordinary administration. These Regulations amend section 26 of the 1991 Act, which makes provision about the nature of the relationship between special administration and other insolvency procedures. These Regulations also amend Schedule 1 to the Water Industry (Specified Infrastructure Projects) (English Undertakers) Regulations 2013 (2013/1582) in order to address a legislative conflict that would otherwise have arisen as a consequence of the transition to the modernised special administration regime. Part 1 deals with definitions and other introductory matters. Part 2 applies and disapplies provisions of the 1986 Act in relation to special administration. Part 3 makes general modifications to the 1986 Act and other enactments as they apply in relation to special administration. Chapter 1 of Part 4 makes specific modifications to Schedule B1 to the 1986 Act as it applies in relation to special administration. Chapter 2 of Part 4 makes specific modifications to other provisions of the 1986 Act as they apply in relation to special administration. Part 5 amends section 26 of the 1991 Act so that it prevents Schedule B1 to the 1986 Act from being used to appoint an ordinary administrator in relation to a water industry company. Part 6 makes specific modifications to Parts 26 and 26A of the Companies Act 2006 as those Parts apply to companies in special administration. Part 7 makes transitional and consequential provision. 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.

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