Explanatory note

This Order amends the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Surcharge) Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/1696) (“the 2012 Order”).

Section 161A(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) requires a court when dealing with a person for one or more offences to order the person to pay a surcharge. The 2012 Order prescribes those cases where a court is not required to order a surcharge. It also prescribes the amount of the surcharge in those cases where a surcharge is payable. The Schedule to the 2012 Order provides that, in certain cases involving custody, a surcharge is only payable in relation to sentences imposed “by the Crown Court”. Article 2 of this Order omits these references to the Crown Court so that a surcharge is now also payable on imposition of an immediate custodial sentence by a magistrates’ court.

Article 3 provides that the amendments this Order makes to the 2012 Order will not apply where a magistrates’ court deals with a person for a single offence committed before 1st September 2014 or, where a magistrates’ court deals with a person for more than one offence, if at least one of those offences was committed before 1st September 2014.

A full impact assessment of the effect of the victim surcharge on the costs to business and the voluntary sector was published in 2012, and is available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2012/339/pdfs/ukia_20120339_en.pdf. An addendum to that impact assessment is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.