Section 182 Disclosure of information.C1 C2 C3

United Kingdom

(1)

A person who discloses any information which he holds or has held in the exercise of tax functions F1, tax credit functions F2, child trust fund functionsF3or social security functions is guilty of an offence if it is information about any matter relevant, for the purposes of F4any of those functions—

(a)

to tax or duty in the case of any identifiable person,

(aa)

F5to a tax credit in respect of any identifiable person,

(ab)

F6to a child trust fund of any identifiable person,

(b)

to contributions payable by or in respect of any identifiable person, or

(c)

to statutory sick pay F7, statutory maternity pay, F8statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay F9, statutory shared parental pay F10, statutory parental bereavement pay or statutory neonatal care pay in respect of any identifiable person.

(2)

In this section “tax functions” means functions relating to tax or duty—

(a)

of the Commissioners, the Board and their officers,

(b)

of any person carrying out the administrative work of F11the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal, and

(c)

of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to any person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above.

(2ZA)

F12In this section “tax credit functions” means the functions relating to tax credits—

(a)

of the Board,

(b)

of any person carrying out the administrative work of the F13the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal, and

(c)

of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to the Board or to any person mentioned in paragraph (b) above.

(2ZB)

F14In this section “child trust fund functions” means the functions relating to child trust funds—

(a)

of the Board and their officers,

(b)

of any person carrying out the administrative work of the F15First-tier Tribunal or an appeal tribunal constituted under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, or

(c)

of any person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to the Board or any person mentioned in paragraph (b) above.

(2A)

F16 In this section “social security functions” means—

(a)

the functions relating to contributions, F17child benefit, guardian’s allowance, statutory sick pay F18, statutory maternity pay, F19statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay F20, statutory shared parental pay F21, statutory parental bereavement pay or statutory neonatal care pay—

(i)

of the Board and their officers,

(ii)

of any person carrying out the administrative work of the F22the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal, and

(iii)

of any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to any person mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) or (ii) above, and

(b)

the functions under Part III of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 or Part III of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 of the Board and their officers and any other person providing, or employed in the provision of, services to the Board or their officers.

(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)

A person who discloses any information which—

(a)

he holds or has held in the exercise of functions—

(i)

of the Comptroller Auditor General F24, of the National Audit Office and any member or employee of that Office or of any member of the staff of the National Audit Office that was established by section 3 of the National Audit Act 1983, F25. . .

(ia)

F26of the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland and any member of the staff of the Northern Ireland Audit Office,

(ii)

of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and his officers,

(iii)

F27of the Auditor General for Wales and any member of his staff, F28...

(iiia)

F29of the Wales Audit Office and any member or employee of that Office,

(iv)

F30of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales and any member of his staff, or

(v)

F31of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and any member of his staff,

(b)

is, or is derived from, information which was held by any person in the exercise of tax functions F32, tax credit functions F33, child trust fund functions F34or social security functions, and

(c)

is information about any matter relevant, for the purposes of F35tax functions F36, tax credit functions F37, child trust fund functions or social security functions—

(i)

to tax or duty in the case of any identifiable person,

(ia)

F38to a tax credit in respect of any identifiable person,

(ib)

F39to a child trust fund of any identifiable person,

(ii)

to contributions payable by or in respect of any identifiable person, or

(iii)

to F40child benefit, guardian’s allowance, statutory sick pay F41, statutory maternity pay, F42statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay F43, statutory shared parental pay F44, statutory parental bereavement pay or statutory neonatal care pay in respect of any identifiable person

is guilty of an offence.

(5)

Subsections (1) and (4) above do not apply to any disclosure of information—

(a)

with lawful authority,

(b)

with the consent of any person in whose case the information is about a matter relevant to tax or duty F45, to a tax credit or to a child trust fund F46or to contributions, statutory sick pay F47, statutory maternity pay, F48statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay F49, statutory shared parental pay F50, statutory parental bereavement pay or statutory neonatal care pay, or

(c)

which has been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosure is made.

(6)

For the purposes of this section a disclosure of any information is made with lawful authority if, and only if, it is made—

(a)

by a Crown servant in accordance with his official duty,

(b)

by any other person for the purposes of the function in the exercise of which he holds the information and without contravening any restriction dulyimposed by the person responsible,

(c)

to, or in accordance with an authorisation duly given by, the person responsible,

(d)

in pursuance of any enactment or of any order of a court, or

(e)

in connection with the institution of or otherwise for the purposes of any proceedings relating to any matter within the general responsibility of the Commissioners or, as the case requires, the Board,

and in this subsection “the person responsible” means the Commissioners, the Board, the Comptroller F51and Auditor General, the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland F52, the Parliamentary Commissioner, the Auditor General for Wales F53, F54the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, as the case requires.

(7)

It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that at the time of the alleged offence—

(a)

he believed that he had lawful authority to make the disclosure in question and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise, or

(b)

he believed that the information in question had been lawfully made available to the public before the disclosure was made and had no reasonablecause to believe otherwise.

(8)

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a)

on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both, and

(b)

on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

(9)

No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be instituted in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland except—

(a)

by the Commissioners or the Board, as the case requires, or

(b)

by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or, in Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

(10)

In this section—

“the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue,
F55“child trust fund” has the same meaning as in the Child Trust Funds Act 2004,
“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Customs and Excise,
F56“contributions” means contributions under Part I of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or Part I of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;
“Crown servant” has the same meaning as in the M1 Official Secrets Act 1989,
F57“tax credit” means a tax credit under the Tax Credits Act 2002, and
“tax or duty” means any tax or duty within the general responsibility of the Commissioners or the Board.

(10A)

F58In this section, in relation to the disclosure of information “identifiable person” means a person whose identity is specified in the disclosure or can be deduced from it.

(11)

In this section—

(a)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(c)

references to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration include the Health Service Commissioner for EnglandF60... , F61... the F62Assembly Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints.

(11A)

F63In this section, references to F64statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay F65, statutory shared parental pay F66, statutory parental bereavement pay or statutory neonatal care pay include statutory pay under Northern Ireland legislation corresponding to Part 12ZA F67, Part 12ZB F68, Part 12ZC F69, Part 12ZD or Part 12ZE of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4).