UK Offence Report

19 A registered person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes or otherwise fails to comply with the…

regulation 19 of The Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010

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

19 A registered person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes or otherwise fails to comply with the requirements of— a Regulations 15 to 18; and b Parts 3 and 5, is guilty of an offence and will be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 registered person
Conduct
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 registered 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

19 A registered person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes or otherwise fails to comply with the requirements of— a Regulations 15 to 18; and b Parts 3 and 5, is guilty of an offence and will be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 19?

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 registered person contravenes or otherwise fails to comply with the requirements of— a Regulations 15 to 18; and b Parts 3 and 5.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2011-04-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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 October 2010
In force from
1 April 2011
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 revoke and re-enact with modifications the following Regulations— the Registration of Social Care and Independent Health Care (Wales) Regulations 2002, in so far as they relate to child minders and the providers of day care for children (“the 2002 Regulations”); the Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2002; and the Suspension of Day Care Providers and Child Minders (Wales) Regulations 2004 (“the 2004 Regulations”), which are all made under powers under Part XA of the Children Act 1989 (“the 1989 Act”). The powers under Part XA of the 1989 Act are repealed in a separate Order, which also makes savings and transitional provision. These Regulations are made under Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 (“the Measure”); the powers in Part 2 of the Measure are broadly in analogous terms to those within Part XA of the 1989 Act. Part 2 of the Measure provides for the registration and inspection of child minders and day care providers in Wales by the Welsh Ministers and it also contains powers enabling the Welsh Ministers to make regulations governing the activities of such persons. Section 30 of the Measure contains a new power that enables the Welsh Ministers to make regulations which will enable the carrying on of the provision of day care in prescribed circumstances upon the death of the registered person. These Regulations apply to persons who act as child minders or who provide day care for children under the age of eight (“day care providers”) on premises situated in Wales. Regulation 3 and Schedule 1 prescribe the requirements that must be satisfied for an application for registration to be granted by the Welsh Minsters. These include provision regarding the suitability of the provider and other persons who will be looking after or in regular contact with relevant children. Regulation 4 and Schedule 2 prescribe the information that must be included with an application for registration. Different requirements apply in respect of child minders and day care providers. The 2002 Regulations currently make provision in relation to the registration of child minders and day care providers; they also make provision for the registration and inspection of a wide range of establishments and agencies involved in the provision of care in a range of settings. These Regulations are amended by Part 7 and Schedules 5 and 6 to reflect that provision for the registration of child minders and day care providers is now contained within these Regulations. Part 3 (regulations 6 to 11) makes provision about the suitability of persons acting as child minders and day care providers and requires information to be available in relation to the matters specified in Schedule 1. Where a day care provider is an organisation it must nominate a responsible individual in respect of whom the prescribed information must be available. Regulation 9 imposes general requirements about the provision of care by registered persons and as to training. Regulation 10 contains a requirement for the Welsh Ministers to be notified about a person’s conviction of criminal offences and being charged with certain specified offences. Regulation 11 prescribes the circumstances in which personal representatives may carry on the provision of day care upon the death of the registered person. Part 4 (regulations 12 to 19) makes provision for the general requirements that apply to persons registered under Part 2 of the Measure and for enforcement. In particular, regulations 12 and 14 require registered persons to comply with the requirements of Part 5 of these Regulations and to have regard to national minimum standards and provide respectively that any allegation that a registered person has failed to comply with the requirements of Part 5 or has failed have regard to the relevant standards may be taken into account by the Welsh Ministers in the exercise of their functions under Part 2 of the Measure and in proceedings under that Part. Regulation 15 provides for a statement of purpose to be compiled by registered persons consisting of the aims and objectives and other relevant matters about the service to be provided for children under the care of the registered person. Regulation 19 provides for offences for contravention of or non-compliance with Part 5. Part 5 (regulations 20 to 38) makes provision about the activities of persons registered under Part 2 of the Measure. Regulations 20 to 26 make provision about the welfare and development of relevant children under the care of registered persons and in particular, about the promotion of the welfare of such children, the provision of food and the provision and implementation of child protection and behaviour management policies. Regulations 27 to 29 make provision about the numbers, qualifications, experience and suitability of those working for registered persons including provision about the information that is required in relation to workers before they may work for child minders or day care providers. Regulations 30 and 31 provide for the keeping of records and the provision of information to parents of relevant children under the care of child minders or day care providers and to the Welsh Ministers. Regulations 32 to 36 make provision for a complaints procedure to be prepared and followed by registered persons. Regulations 37 and 38 make provision about the fitness of premises on which care is provided, equipment and facilities provided at the premises and about fire precautions. Part 6 sets out the circumstances in which a person’s registration may be suspended by the Welsh Ministers and provides for a right of appeal to a First-tier Tribunal (established in accordance with the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007). This Part also makes provision for the registered person to give notice to the Welsh Ministers requesting the voluntary suspension of their registration; there is no right of appeal to a First-tier Tribunal in the event that the Welsh Ministers refuse to take action upon receipt of a voluntary suspension notice. Part 7 contains provision for amendment, revocation and savings. Regulation 47 and Schedule 5 make consequential amendments to the 2002 Regulations. Regulation 48 and Schedule 6 make provision for the revocation of specified regulations and regulation 49 contains savings provision.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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