UK Offence Report

Insertion of paragraphs 15A to 15I (postal voting documents retuned by hand and left behind postal voting…

article 6 of The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 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

Return of postal voting documents form: prescribed information 15B 1 For the purposes of paragraph 15A(2), the prescribed information is— a P’s name and address; b the total number of covering envelopes that P is handing in; c whether P is handing in postal voting documents issued to P as an elector; d whether P is handing in postal voting documents issued to P as a proxy, and if so for how many electors; e whether P is handing in postal voting documents which were not issued to P, and if so for how many electors and why; f a declaration by P that— i the number of electors for whom P has handed in postal voting documents for the election concerned, including those postal voting documents being handed in at that time, but excluding those issued to P and those rejected in accordance with paragraph 15C on a previous occasion, does not exceed the permitted number (see further, paragraph 15C), and ii either— aa to the best of P’s knowledge, P is not a political campaigner for whom it is an offence under section 112A of the 1983 Act (offences relating to handling of postal voting documents) to handle the postal voting documents concerned, or bb P is a political campaigner and is only handing in postal voting documents for one or more persons mentioned in sub-paragraph (2).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses reasonable cause to suspect - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach article 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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2024, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 112A of the 1983 Act.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

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
13 March 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 the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes changes to the rules governing the handing in of postal voting documents for local elections in Northern Ireland. Similar changes are made to the rules governing Parliamentary and Assembly elections in a separate instrument (the Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling etc.) (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2024) (S.I. 2024/319). Part 2 of this Order amends Schedule 2 to the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (“the 1985 Order”) (S.I. 1985/454) to set out new procedures which will apply to the handing in of postal voting documents to the returning officer for local elections in Northern Ireland. Persons seeking to hand in postal voting documents to the returning officer will be required to complete a return of postal voting documents form, and their postal voting documents must or may be rejected by the returning officer if certain conditions apply. The amendments made by Part 2 also make provision in relation to postal voting documents which are brought into the offices of the returning officer but are left behind without being handed in. Additionally, they replace the statement as to postal ballot papers in the Appendix to Schedule 2 to the 1985 Order. Part 3 of this Order amends other electoral legislation relating to local elections in Northern Ireland. Article 9 amends rule 45(2) in Schedule 5 to the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 (c. 14) (N.I.) to clarify that postal voting documents may be returned by post or by hand and to provide that rejection under the procedures mentioned above has the effect that the postal ballot papers affected are not duly returned. Article 9 also amends Schedule 5 to that Act to replace the following forms used in local elections: declaration of identity, elector’s official postal poll card and proxy’s official postal poll card. Article 10 amends the Elections Act 2001 (c. 7) to replace form 5A (declaration of identity (combined polls)), which is inserted by paragraph 29(2) of Schedule 1 to that Act into the Appendix of Forms in Schedule 5 to the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 for the purposes of a combined local and parliamentary election. Article 11 amends the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/2977) to ensure that lists of electors whose postal voting documents have been rejected under the new procedures or left behind are not available for public inspection. 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

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