Fines Bill 2007

Public bill · Government · Presented

The Fines Bill 2007 would update outdated maximum fines, grouping District Court fines into five classes and adjusting some higher-court fines to keep penalties in proportion. Courts would have to consider a person’s financial circumstances so fines have a broadly equal impact, while allowing fines to be paid in instalments—normally over up to one year, with a possible further year where circumstances change—to avoid undue hardship. It would also revise the prison terms that can apply when summary fines go unpaid.

Formal long title

Bill entitled an Act to make provision in relation to the maximum fines that a court may impose in respect of offences tried summarily and certain offences tried on indictment; to provide that a court imposing a fine upon conviction of a person of an offence shall take account of a person's financial circumstances; to provide for the payment of such fines by instalment in certain circumstances; and to provide for matters connected therewith

Last updated 24 September 2018