(1) Where a person, whether charged with an offence or not, is brought before any court otherwise than for the purpose of giving evidence, and it appears to the court that he is a child or young person, the court shall make due inquiry as to the age of that person, and for that purpose shall take such evidence as may be forthcoming at the hearing of the case, but an order or judgment of the court shall not be invalidated by any subsequent proof that the age of that person has not been correctly stated to the court, and the age presumed or declared by the court to be the age of the person so brought before it shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the true age of that person, and, where it appears to the court that the person so brought before it has attained the age of eighteen years, that person shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed not to be a child or young person.
(2) Where in any charge or indictment for any offence under this Act or any of the offences mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act except as provided in that Schedule, it is alleged that the person by or in respect of whom the offence was committed was a child or young person or was under or had attained any specified age, and he appears to the court to have been at the date of the commission of the alleged offence a child or young person, or to have been under or to have attained the specified age, as the case may be, he shall for the purposes of this Act be presumed at that date to have been a child or young person or to have been under or to have attained that age, as the case may be, unless the contrary is proved.
(3) Where, in any charge or indictment for any offence under this Act or any of the offences mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act, it is alleged that the person in respect of whom the offence was committed was a child or was a young person, it shall not be a defence to prove that the person alleged to have been a child was a young person or the person alleged to have been a young person was a child in any case where the acts constituting the alleged offence would equally have been an offence if committed in respect of a young person or child respectively.
(4) Where a person is charged with an offence under this Act in respect of a person apparently under a specified age it shall be a defence to prove that the person was actually of or over that age.
In any proceedings under this Act a copy of an entry in the wages book of any employer of labour, or if no wages book be kept a written statement signed by the employer or by any responsible person in his employ, shall be evidence that the wages therein entered or stated as having been paid to any person, have in fact been so paid.
103 Power of Secretary of State to appoint inspectors.
The Secretary of State may appoint for the purposes of the enactments relating to children and young persons a chief inspector, and such number of inspectors to act under the direction of the chief inspector as the Treasury may approve, and may pay to the persons so appointed such remuneration and allowances as with the consent of the Treasury he may determine, and they shall perform such duties as the Secretary of State may from time to time direct.
104 Exchequer grants and expenses of Secretary of State.
(1) There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament—
(a) such sums on such conditions as the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may recommend towards—
(i) the expenses of the managers of an approved school;
(ii) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(iii) the expenses of a council of a county or county borough in respect of remand homes;
(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(c) any expenses incurred by the Secretary of State in the administration of this Act.
(2) The conditions on which any sums are paid under this section towards the expenses incurred in connection with the provision of a site for, or with the erection, enlargement, improvement or repair of, an approved school, may include conditions for securing the repayment in whole or in part of the sums paid in the event of the school ceasing to be an approved school, and, notwithstanding anything in the constitution of the school or of the managers thereof, or in the trusts, if any, to which the property of the school or of the managers is subject, the managers and any persons who are trustees of any of the said property may accept those sums on those conditions, and execute any instrument required for carrying into effect those conditions, and shall be bound by those conditions and by any instrument so executed and have power to fulfil the conditions and the obligations created by the instrument.
(1) An order or other act of the Secretary of State under this Act may be signified under the hand of the Secretary of State or an Under-Secretary of State or an Assistant Under-Secretary . . ..
(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(3) The production of a copy of the London Gazette containing a notice of the grant, or of the withdrawal or surrender, of a certificate of approval of an approved school shall be sufficient evidence of the fact of a certificate having been duly granted to the school named in the notice, or of the withdrawal or surrender of such a certificate, and the grant of a certificate of approval of an approved school may also be proved by the production of the certificate itself, or of a document purporting to be a copy of the certificate and to be authenticated as such by an Under-Secretary of State or Assistant Under-Secretary.
(4) Any notice or other document required or authorised by this Act to be served on the managers of an approved school may, if those managers are a local authority or a joint committee representing two or more local authorities, be served either personally or by post upon their clerk, and in any other case, may be served either personally or by post upon any one of the managers, or their secretary, or the headmaster of the school.
(5) An order, licence, or other document may be authenticated on behalf of the managers of an approved school, if they are a local authority or a joint committee representing two or more local authorities, by the signature of their clerk or some other officer of the local authority duly authorised in that behalf, and in any other case, by the signature of one of the managers or their secretary, or of the headmaster.
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say,—
“Approved school” means a school approved by the Secretary of State under section seventy-nine of this Act;
“Approved school order” means an order made by a court sending a . . . person to an approved school;
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“Chief officer of police” . . . as regards Scotland means the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland, and as regards Northern Ireland means a district inspector of the Royal Ulster Constabulary;
“Child” means a person under the age of fourteen years;
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“Guardian”, in relation to a child or young person, includes any person who, in the opinion of the court having cognisance of any case in relation to the child or young person or in which the child or young person is concerned, has for the time being the care of the child or young person;
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“Legal guardian”, in relation to a child or young person, means a guardian of a child as defined in the Children Act 1989
“legal representative” means a person who, for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007, is an authorised person in relation to an activity which constitutes the exercise of a right of audience or the conduct of litigation (within the meaning of that Act);
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“Place of safety” means a community home provided by a local authority or a controlled community home, any police station, or any hospital, surgery, or any other suitable place, the occupier of which is willing temporarily to receive a child or young person;
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“Prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;
“Public place” includes any public park, garden, sea beach or railway station, and any ground to which the public for the time being have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise;
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“Street” includes any highway and any public bridge, road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not;
“young person” means a person who has attained the age of fourteen and is under the age of eighteen years.
(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(3) References in this Act to any enactment or to any provision in any enactment shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as references to that enactment or provision as amended by any subsequent enactment including this Act.
(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Interpretation Act 1978 with respect to repeals, the transitory provisions set out in the Fifth Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purposes of the transition to the provisions of this Act from the provisions of the enactments repealed by the Children and Young Persons Act 1932, and by this Act.
(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(4) References in any Act or other document to youth courts under the Children Act 1908, shall be construed as including references to such courts under this Act.
(5) References in any Act or other document to any enactment repealed and re-enacted with or without modifications by this Act . . . shall be construed as including references to the corresponding provision of this Act.
(6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FIRST SCHEDULE Offences against Children and Young Persons, with respect to which Special Provisions of this Act apply
Sections 13, 14, 15, 40, 41, 42, 43, 63, 67, 99 and 108.
The murder or manslaughter of a child or young person.
Infanticide.
An offence under section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961 (encouraging or assisting suicide) where the relevant act is an act capable of, and done with the intention of, encouraging or assisting the suicide of a child or young person.
An offence under section 184(1) of the Online Safety Act 2023 (encouraging or assisting serious self-harm) where the relevant act is an act capable of, and done with the intention of, encouraging or assisting the serious self-harm of a child or young person.
An offence under section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, in respect of a child or young person.
Any offence under sections twenty-seven, ... or fifty-six of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, and any offence against a child or young person under sections five, ... ... of that Act. ..
Common assault, or battery. ...
Any offence under sections one, ... three, four, eleven or twenty-three of this Act.
Any offence against a child or young person under any of sections 1 to 41, 47 to 53, ... 61, 66 , 66A, 66B , 67 and 67A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, or any attempt to commit such an offence. Any offence under section 62 or 63 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 where the intended offence was an offence against a child or young person, or any attempt to commit such an offence.
...
An offence against a child or young person under section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (human trafficking), or any attempt to commit such an offence.
Any other offence involving bodily injury to a child or young person.
SCHEDULE 1A Prohibition on publication of certain matters: providers of information society services
Section 39A
Domestic service providers: extension of liability
1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Non-UK service providers: restriction on institution of proceedings
2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exceptions for mere conduits
3 (1) A service provider is not capable of being guilty of an offence under section 39 in respect of anything done in the course of providing so much of an information society service as consists in—
(a) the provision of access to a communication network, or
(b) the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service,
if the condition in sub-paragraph (2) is satisfied.
(2) The condition is that the service provider does not—
(a) initiate the transmission,
(b) select the recipient of the transmission, or
(c) select or modify the information contained in the transmission.
(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)—
(a) the provision of access to a communication network, and
(b) the transmission of information in a communication network,
includes the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted so far as the storage is solely for the purpose of carrying out the transmission in the network.
(4) Sub-paragraph (3) does not apply if the information is stored for longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.
Exception for caching
4 (1) This paragraph applies where an information society service consists in the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service.
(2) The service provider is not capable of being guilty of an offence under section 39 in respect of the automatic, intermediate and temporary storage of information so provided, if—
(a) the storage of the information is solely for the purpose of making more efficient the onward transmission of the information to other recipients of the service at their request, and
(b) the condition in sub-paragraph (3) is satisfied.
(3) The condition is that the service provider—
(a) does not modify the information,
(b) complies with any conditions attached to having access to the information, and
(c) where sub-paragraph (4) applies, expeditiously removes the information or disables access to it.
(4) This sub-paragraph applies if the service provider obtains actual knowledge that—
(a) the information at the initial source of the transmission has been removed from the network,
(b) access to it has been disabled, or
(c) a court or administrative authority has ordered the removal from the network of, or the disablement of access to, the information.
Exception for hosting
5 (1) A service provider is not capable of being guilty of an offence under section 39 in respect of anything done in the course of providing so much of an information society service as consists in the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service if sub-paragraph (2) or (3) is satisfied.
(2) This sub-paragraph is satisfied if the service provider had no actual knowledge when the information was provided that it consisted of or included matter whose inclusion in a publication is prohibited by a direction under section 39.
(3) This sub-paragraph is satisfied if, on obtaining such knowledge, the service provider expeditiously removed the information or disabled access to it.
(4) Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply if the recipient of the service is acting under the authority or control of the service provider.
Interpretation
6 (1) This paragraph applies for the purposes of this Schedule.
(2) “Publication” has the meaning given in section 39.
(3) “Information society services”—
(a) has the meaning given in Article 2(a) of the E-Commerce Directive (which refers to Article 1(2) of Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations), and
(b) is summarised in recital 17 of the E-Commerce Directive as covering “any service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by means of electronic equipment for the processing (including digital compression) and storage of data, and at the individual request of a recipient of a service”,
and “the E-Commerce Directive” means Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce).
(4) “Recipient”, in relation to a service, means a person who, for professional ends or otherwise, uses an information society service, in particular for the purposes of seeking information or making it accessible.
(5) “Service provider” means a person providing an information society service.
(6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part I Outside Metropolitan Area
Youth court panels
1 The following provisions of this Part of this Schedule shall have effect as respects petty sessions areas falling wholly outside the area consisting of the inner London boroughs and the City of London.
Qualification to sit as member of youth court.
2 A justice shall not be qualified to sit as a member of a youth court unless he is
(a) a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts), or
(b) a member of a youth court panel, that is to say, a panel of justices specially qualified to deal with juvenile cases.
Constitution by single District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts)
2A A youth court may consist of a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) sitting alone.
Youth court panels.
3 Subject to the following provisions of this Part of this Schedule, a youth court panel shall be formed for every petty sessions area.
Combined youth court panels
4 A magistrates’ courts committee may make recommendations to the Lord Chancellor—
(a) for the formation of a combined youth court panel for two or more petty sessions areas, or
(b) for the dissolution of any such combined youth court panel,
if the committee’s area comprises at least one of the petty sessions areas concerned.
5 It shall be the duty of the magistrates’ courts committee for any area, if directed to do so by the Lord Chancellor, to review the functioning of youth courts in their area and on completion of the review to submit to the Lord Chancellor either a report making such recommendations as are mentioned in paragraph 4 of this Schedule or a report giving reasons for making no such recommendations.
6 Subject to the provisions of this Schedule—
(a) where a magistrates’ courts committee make such recommendations to the Lord Chancellor, he may after consulting the Lord Chief Justice make an order giving effect to them subject to any modifications he thinks fit after consulting the Lord Chief Justice; and
(b) where a magistrates’ courts committee fail to comply within six months with a direction of the Lord Chancellor under the preceding paragraph, or Lord Chancellor is dissatisfied with the report submitted in pursuance of such a direction, he may , after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, make such order as he thinks fit , after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 4 of this Schedule.
Effect of order establishing combined panel
7 Where a combined youth court panelis formed for any petty sessions areas any justice who is a member of the panel may exercise in relation to each of the areas any jurisdiction exercisable by him as a member of a youth court.
Restrictions on formation of combined panels
8 No order under this Schedule shall provide for the formation of a combined youth court panel for an area unless the area consists of, or is wholly included in, a single commission area
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8A
9 An order under this Schedule providing for the formation of a combined youth court panel for an area which comprises a borough having a separate magistrates’ courts committee shall not be made except with the consent of every magistrates’ courts committee the whole or part of whose area is included in the area for which the combined panel is formed.
Consultations and notices
10 A magistrates’ courts committee, before submitting recommendations for an order under this Schedule, shall consult and, when submitting any such recommendations, shall give notice to—
(a) the justices acting for any petty sessions area concerned which is within the committee’s area (except where the committee’s area is a borough); and
(b) any other magistrates’ courts committee the whole or part of whose area is concerned;
and shall also consult the said justices before commenting on any recommendations on which they are consulted under this paragraph by another magistrates’ courts committee.
11 Where the Lord Chancellor proposes to make an order under this Schedule in a case where either no recommendations have been made to him or the proposed order departs from the recommendations made to him, he shall send a copy of the proposed order to the magistrates’ courts committee for any area the whole or part of which is concerned and to the justices acting for any petty sessions area concerned.
12 Where notice of recommendations or a copy of a proposed order is required to be sent under the preceding paragraphs to any justices or committee, the Lord Chancellor shall, before making an order, consider any representations made to him by the justices or committee, or by any youth court panel concerned, within one month from the time the notice was given or the copy of the proposed order was sent.
Part II Metropolitan Area
13 The following provisions of this Part of this Schedule shall have effect as respects the area consisiting of the petty sessions areas falling wholly or partly within the area consisting of the inner Londodn boroughs and the City of London (in this Part of this Schedule referred to as the metropolitan area).
14 Youth courts shall be constituted for the whole of the metropolitan area but shall sit for such divisions and in such places as the Lord Chancellor may , after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, by order specify, without prejudice, however, to their jurisdiction with respect to the whole area.
15 Subject to the following provisions of this Schedule—
(a) each youth courtshall either consist of a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate sitting alone orconsist of a chairman and two other members and . . . have both a man and a woman among its members;
(b) the chairman (where applicable)shall be a person nominated by the Lord Chief Justice, after consulting the Lord Chancellor, to act as chairman of youth courts for the metropolitan area and shall be either a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate or a lay justice for the inner London area selected, in such manner as may be provided by an order made by the Lord Chief Justice after consulting the Lord Chancellor, from a panel of such justices from time to time nominated by him; and
(c) the other members (where applicable) shall be justices so selected from that panel.
15A (1) Where, in the the case of any sitting of a youth court, a person nominated under paragraph 15(b)of this Schedule—
(a) is available to act as chairman; but
(b) considers that it would be appropriate for another member of the court to act as chairman,
he may nominate that member to act as chairman at that sitting.
(2) A member of a youth court nominated to act as chairman under sub-paragraph (1) shall only so act while the person making the nomination continues to sit as a member of the court.
16 If at any time, by reason of illness or other emergency, no person nominated under paragraph 15(b) of this Schedule is available to act as chairman of a youth court, any metropolitan stipendiary magistrate or, with the consent of the Lord Chief Justice, given after consulting the Lord Chancellor, any justice of the peace selected as aforesaid from the said panel, may act temporarily as chairman.
17 Where it appears to the chairman that a youth court cannot, without adjournment, be fully constituted, and that an adjournment would not be in the interests of justice, the chairman may sit with one other member (whether a man or a woman) . . ..
18 The Lord Chief Justice, in nominating any persons under this Part of this Schedule shall have regard to the previous experience of the persons available and their special qualifications for dealing with juvenile cases; and every such nomination shall be for a specified period and shall be revocable by the Lord Chief Justice, after consulting the Lord Chancellor.
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19
Part III General
20 An order of the Lord Chancellor under this Schedule shall be made by statutory instrument and may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order thereunder.
21 Any such order may contain supplementary, incidental and consequential provisions.
22 The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under this Schedule.
FOURTH SCHEDULE Provisions as to Administration of Approved Schools and Treatment of Persons sent thereto
Sections 81 and 106.
General Provisions
1 (1) The Secretary of State may make rules for the management and discipline of approved schools, and different rules may be made as respects different schools or classes of school.
(2) The managers of an approved school may make supplementary rules for the management and discipline of the school, but rules so made shall not have effect unless approved by the Secretary of State.
2 No substantial addition to, or diminution or alteration of, the buildings or grounds of an approved school shall be made without the approval in writing of the Secretary of State.
Treatment of Pupils
3 A minister of the religious persuasion to which a person in an approved school belongs may visit him at the school on such days, at such times, and on such conditions, as may be fixed by rules made by the Secretary of State for the purpose of affording him religious assistance and instruction.
4—13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Superannuation of Officers
14 The Managers of any approved school may, as part of the expenses of the management of the school, pay, or contribute towards the payment of—
(a) a superannuation allowance or gratuity—
(i) to any officer who retires by reason of old age or permanent infirmity of mind or body;
(ii) to any officer, who, in accordance with the terms of his appointment, is required to vacate his office by reason of the death, or the retirement on account of old age or permanent infirmity, of another officer.
(b) a gratuity to any dependant of an officer who has died in the service of the school:
Provided that no payment or contribution in respect of any such superannuation allowance or gratuity shall be made unless it is made in accordance with rules approved by the Secretary of State with the concurrence of the Treasury for regulating the grant of such allowances and gratuities, or unless it is specially sanctioned by the Secretary of State.