Fixed Penalty Notice - Penalty Notices For Disorder

Penalty Notices For Disorder

Issued under Section 1-11 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 for public disorder offences and costing £50 for 'lower-tier' offences or £80 for 'higher-tier' offences, these can only be issued to people aged 16 or over. There are 23 offences for which a notice can be issued, such as being drunk and disorderly in a public place, selling alcohol to a minor (under 18), threatening behaviour or language and "behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to others". Penalty notices can also be issued for minor shop thefts and minor criminal damage and in January 2009 the offence of possession of cannabis was added to the scheme. Recipients have 21 days to pay the notice or request a court hearing. If a penalty notice is not paid after 21 days then the outstanding amount is increased by 50% and if it is still unpaid the fine is lodged at the local magistrates' court just as if the matter was an unpaid court fine. This is where PNDs and FPNs vary if they are not paid: the former results in an unpaid fine being lodged and the latter results in the recipient being summoned to court to answer for the original offence.

When paying penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), no admission of guilt is required. Paying the PND involves neither an official finding nor an acceptance of guilt and discharges all liability to conviction for the offence. PNDs for recordable offences are recorded on the Police National Computer however and may be disclosed on an Enhanced Criminal Records Disclosure issued by the Criminal Records Bureau, if it is concluded that the behaviour leading to the PND was relevant to the matter at hand, for example the applicant’s suitability to work with children. However, the mere fact that a PND has been issued would not make it relevant.

PNDs are generally issued to first-time offenders with no previous record. PNDs do not constitute a criminal record; they are non-conviction information and treated as intelligence.