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Government Bills 2006/07 - enacted

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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act

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Key Benefits

To make it easier to prosecute organisations when their gross negligence leads to death.

The new offence aims to rectify a key defect in the present law that means that organisations can only be convicted of manslaughter if a single individual at the very top of the company is also personally liable. This fails to reflect the reality of decision-making in large organisations.

The offence will apply to corporate organisations, and Crown bodies - such as Government departments - will be on the same footing as their private sector counterparts when carrying out similar activities.

The offence will be clearly linked to existing health and safety requirements and those who already take their obligations under health and safety law seriously have nothing to fear.

The offence is focussed on corporate liability and does not apply to individual directors or others. Prosecutions against individuals will continue to be possible for existing offences - including manslaughter/culpable homicide and health and safety offences - where they themselves are personally at fault.
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Act of Parliament
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Explanatory Notes
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Regulatory Impact assessment
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Territorial Extent
United Kingdom
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Additional Information

This Bill was carried over from the previous Session 2005/06 under House of Commons Standing Order 80A on the 16th November 2006. The Government's amendments we accepted to extend the offence to specified types of unincorporated bodies, and also to introduce a new sanction of adverse publicity orders. Amendments were also made to extend the offence to the management of custody.

Comments

If you have any comments on the Act you can email them to:

corporatemanslaughterbill@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Ministry of Justice

House of Commons Library Research Paper on the Bill

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