New Fine Levels in the Magistrates Courts

The government has announced today proposals to increase the powers of the Magistrates Courts to impose in some cases unlimited fines. Generally speaking the proposals are as follows:

Level 1 to 4 fines: these are currently set at between £200- £2,500. But these will be quadrupled to between £800- £10,000.

Level 5 fines: these are currently set at £5000 but under the new proposals will be unlimited.

One should bear in mind though that fines are imposed according to the Defendant’s relative income so in most cases it will not make much of a difference unless and until sentencing guidelines are amended or where an offender has a very significant income.

A draft Statutory Instrument is currently before Parliament but there is no commencement date yet.