UK Offence Report

7 If the proprietor of an independent school fails to comply with any requirement specified in regulation 4…

regulation 7 of The Independent Schools (Provision of Information) (Wales) 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

7 If the proprietor of an independent school fails to comply with any requirement specified in regulation 4 or 5 they are guilty of an offence and 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
Conduct
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 7?

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. Being served with a notice under the Independent Schools (Provision of Information) (Wales) Regulations 2024 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. 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
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
11 January 2024
In force from
14 February 2024
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 replace the Independent Schools (Provision of Information) (Wales) Regulations 2003 (“the 2003 Regulations”). These Regulations apply in relation to Wales. These Regulations relate to applications for registration of independent schools under section 160(1) of the Education Act 2002 and information to be provided periodically by the proprietors of independent schools under section 168 of that Act. Regulation 2 and Part 1 of the Schedule contain interpretation provisions. Regulation 3 and Part 2 of the Schedule make provision for the form and content of an application to register an independent school under section 160(1) of the Education Act 2002. Regulation 4 makes provision for the submission by the proprietor of an independent school of an initial return within 90 days of the admission date or, if later, a request by the registration authority. Part 3 of the Schedule prescribes the information to be included in the initial return. Regulation 5 makes provision for the submission by the proprietor of an independent school of annual returns to the registration authority. Part 4 of the Schedule prescribes the information to be included in the annual return. Regulation 6 provides that if it is satisfied that a proprietor of an independent school has failed to comply with any requirement of regulation 4 or 5, the registration authority may remove the school from the register. Regulation 7 provides that it is an offence for a proprietor of an independent school to fail to comply with any requirement of regulation 4 or 5. Regulation 8 revokes the 2003 Regulations. Regulations 9, 10 and 11 revoke other instruments and provisions that amend either the 2003 Regulations or the Independent School Standards (Wales) Regulations 2003. Regulation 12 makes transitional provision for the 2003 Regulations in cases where an initial return is required or annual return requested before the coming into force of these Regulations. The Immigration Rules, which are referred to in paragraph 32 of the Schedule to these Regulations, can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-index. The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ and is published on www.gov.wales.

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”
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