UK Offence Report

1 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 4 to 28 shall be an offence.

regulation 31(1) of The Residential Family Centres (Wales) Regulations 2003

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 A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 4 to 28 shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 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 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 31(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Residential Family Centres (Wales) Regulations 2003, 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
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
18 March 2003
In force from
1 September 2003
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 the Care Standards Act 2000 (“the Act”) and apply in relation to residential family centres in Wales. Parts I and II of the Act provide for the National Assembly for Wales, in relation to Wales, to register and inspect establishments and agencies. The Act also provides for the Assembly to make regulations governing the conduct of establishments and agencies in relation to Wales. Regulation 3 excludes certain establishments from the definition of a residential family centre under section 1 of the Act. These include any establishment which is a health service hospital, independent hospital, independent clinic, care home, hostel or domestic violence refuge. Under regulation 4, each residential family centre must have a statement of purpose consisting of the matters set out in schedule 1, and a resident’s guide to the centre. The residential family centre must be carried on in a manner which is consistent with the statement of purpose. Part II makes provision about the persons carrying on or managing the home, and requires satisfactory information to be available in relation to the matters prescribed in schedule 2. Where the provider is an organisation, it must nominate a responsible individual in respect of whom this information must be available (regulation 5). Regulation 6 prescribes the circumstances where a manager must be appointed for the residential family centre, and regulation 8 imposes general requirements in relation to the proper conduct of the residential family centre, and the need for appropriate training. Part III makes provision about the conduct of residential family centres, in particular as to health and welfare of residents, child protection and the drawing up of placement plans. Provision is also made about the staffing of residential family centres, and the fitness of workers, and about complaints and record keeping. Part IV makes provision about the suitability of premises, and the fire precautions to be taken. Part V deals with the management of residential family centres. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to review the quality of care provided at the residential family centre. Regulation 24 imposes requirements as to the financial position of the residential family centre. Regulation 25 requires the registered provider to visit the residential family centre as prescribed. Part VI deals with miscellaneous matters including the giving of notices to the Assembly. Regulation 31 provides for offences, a breach of the regulations specified in regulation 31 may found an offence on the part of the registered person. Regulation 33 amends The Regulation of Social Care and Independent Healthcare (Fees) (Wales) Regulations 2002 by prescribing the annual fee in respect of the registration of residential family centres.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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