# Armed Forces Act 2006, Section 132: Punishments available to commanding officer

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) The second column of the following Table lists the punishments that may be awarded by a commanding officer who has heard a charge summarily, subject in the case of each punishment to any limitation shown in the third column opposite it.
TABLE
Row Number
Punishment
Limitation
1
detention for a term not exceeding the maximum allowed by section 133
only if the person being punished is of or below the rank of—
(a)leading rate;
(aa) corporal in the Royal Marines;
(b)lance corporal or lance bombardier in any of Her Majesty’s military forces;
(c)corporal in any of Her Majesty's air forces (see also subsection (1A))
2
forfeiture of a specified term of seniority or of all seniority
only if the person being punished is an officer, and only in accordance with section 134
3
reduction in rank, or disrating
only if the person being punished is a warrant officer or non-commissioned officer, only in accordance with section 135, and not to an extent prohibited by regulations under section 135(4)
4
a fine not exceeding the maximum amount allowed by section 136
5
a severe reprimand or a reprimand
only if the person being punished is an officer, warrant officer or non-commissioned officer
6
a service supervision and punishment order (defined by section 173)
only if the person being punished is an able rate, marine, soldier or airman
7
such minor punishments as may from time to time be authorised by regulations made by the Defence Council
8
a service compensation order (defined by section 175) of an amount not exceeding the maximum allowed by section 137
9
a deprivation order (defined by section 177B)
only if section 177C permits
(1A) In row 1 of the Table, in paragraph (c) of the entry in the third column, in relation to the Royal Air Force Regiment, the reference to a corporal is to be read as a reference to a lance corporal.
(2) Subsection (1) is subject to (in particular)—
(a) section 138 (prohibited combinations of punishments) and any regulations made under that section;
(b) Chapter 1 of Part 9 (general provisions about sentencing).
(3) Where regulations under row 7 of the Table authorise a minor punishment, they may—
(a) confer on the offender's commanding officer a power, when awarding the punishment, to direct that the punishment shall take effect from a date after the date of the award;
(b) confer on the offender's commanding officer the function of deciding the details of the punishment;
(c) provide for the delegation by the commanding officer of any of his functions under the regulations.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/52/section/132 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-act-2006/section-132
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.