Skills and Workforce Development Agency Act 2026 · Updated to 1 Jul 2026 · Part 8 · General
61. Offences by corporations
Feedback & supportWhere, in any proceedings for an offence under this Act, it is necessary to prove the state of mind of a corporation in relation to a particular conduct, evidence that —
an officer, employee or agent of the corporation engaged in that conduct within the scope of his or her actual or apparent authority; and
the officer, employee or agent had that state of mind,is evidence that the corporation had that state of mind.
Where a corporation commits an offence under this Act, a person —
who is —
an officer of the corporation; or
an individual involved in the management of the corporation and in a position to influence the conduct of the corporation in relation to the commission of the offence; and
who —
consented or connived, or conspired with others, to effect the commission of the offence;
is in any other way, whether by act or omission, knowingly concerned in, or is party to, the commission of the offence by the corporation; or
knew or ought reasonably to have known that the offence by the corporation (or an offence of the same type) would be or is being committed, and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop the commission of that offence,shall be guilty of that same offence as is the corporation, and shall be liable on conviction to be punished accordingly.
A person mentioned in subsection (2) may rely on a defence that would be available to the corporation if it were charged with the offence with which the person is charged and, in doing so, the person bears the same burden of proof that the corporation would bear.
To avoid doubt, this section does not affect the application of —
Chapters 5 and 5A of the Penal Code 1871; or
the Evidence Act 1893 or any other law or practice regarding the admissibility of evidence.
To avoid doubt, subsection (2) also does not affect the liability of the corporation for an offence under this Act, and applies whether or not the corporation is convicted of the offence.
liability
“liability”, in relation to the transferor, means any liability, duty or obligation (whether actual or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, and whether owed alone or jointly, or jointly and severally, with any other person) of the transferor on the eve of the transfer date;
In this section —
“corporation” includes a limited liability partnership within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;
“officer”, in relation to a corporation, means any director, partner, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the corporation, and includes —
officer
“officer”, in relation to a public body, means an employee of the public body and includes an individual under a secondment arrangement which makes available the service of the individual to the public body;
any person purporting to act in any such capacity; and
for a corporation whose affairs are managed by its members, any of those members as if the member were a director of the corporation;
member
“member”, in relation to the Agency, means a member of the Agency who is appointed under section 10(1), and includes any individual appointed under section 14(2) to act in that capacity;
“state of mind” of a person includes —
the knowledge, intention, opinion, belief or purpose of the person; and
the person’s reasons for the intention, opinion, belief or purpose.