UK Offence Report

Provision of false or misleading information

regulation 47(1) of The Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2025

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 It is an offence for

a scheme participant or

a near-threshold supplier to make

a notification which it is required to make under regulation

15 or 16 (notification of fossil fuel boiler sales)—

a which includes information that the scheme participant or

a near-threshold supplier knows to be false or misleading in

a material particular; or

b recklessly and which includes information which is false or misleading in

a material particular.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 near-threshold supplier
Conduct
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (recklessly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: recklessly.

What would breach regulation 47(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2025.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

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

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
27 January 2025
In force from
1 April 2025
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 made under Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Energy Act 2023 (c. 52) and establish a low-carbon heat scheme known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism. The scheme operates during the period from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2029, is divided into four “scheme years” and applies to the whole of the United Kingdom. Participants in the scheme (identified in regulation 9) are those undertakings, or groups of undertakings, which are the supplier (as defined in regulation 2(1)) of a number of fossil fuel boilers above the relevant threshold which are sold during a scheme year. Scheme participants have a low-carbon heat target for each scheme year. This target (regulation 12) is expressed in units and is based on the number of the scheme participant’s fossil fuel boiler sales on the UK market above the thresholds, unless the boiler is for export or for installation in a new build property. Participants must meet their low-carbon heat target by acquiring and surrendering to the scheme administrator (the Environment Agency) a number of certificates corresponding to the number of units in their target (regulation 25). There is provision for part of a low-carbon heat target to be carried forward to the following scheme year in regulation 27. A scheme participant which has insufficient certificates to meet its low-carbon heat target for a scheme year must make a payment to the scheme administrator in accordance with regulation 28. A certificate, or half certificate, is acquired when an undertaking is the supplier of a stand-alone heat pump or hybrid heat pump (defined in regulations 2(1), 3 and 4) which is installed during a scheme year (regulation 13). Installations must be in accordance with regulation 5, which includes a requirement for information about them to be recorded on the register of a certification scheme approved by the Secretary of State under regulation 6. An undertaking which is not a scheme participant may also acquire certificates and is referred to as a certificate holder. Scheme participants and certificate holders may transfer certificates in accordance with regulation 24 and carry them over for use in subsequent scheme years, subject to limits (regulation 26). Part 5 includes provisions concerning information. A potential scheme participant must register with the scheme administrator if its fossil fuel boiler sales during the period from 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025 were above the limits in regulation 14, or later, if it reaches those limits later. Potential “near-threshold suppliers”, which do not have low-carbon heat targets but which have notification obligations under the Regulations, must also register if they meet the relevant sales thresholds. Scheme participants and near-threshold suppliers must make quarterly notifications to the scheme administrator in accordance with regulation 15, and scheme participants must make an annual report, accompanied by a verifier’s assurance report (regulation 16). This Part includes other obligations in relation to record keeping and notification of information, as well as a power for the scheme administrator to estimate fossil fuel boiler sales in certain circumstances (regulation 20). Part 7 includes powers to enable the scheme administrator to monitor compliance with the Regulations. Part 8 includes a range of civil penalties that must or may be imposed in respect of specified breaches of the Regulations, and Part 9 includes two criminal offences relating to the provision of false or misleading information and obstructing a power of entry. Part 10 contains provision about appeals from decisions made by the scheme administrator to the First-tier Tribunal. A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 3 - 8 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH, and is available alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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