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Arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence

Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.14

Guideline effective from:

For offences committed on or after 28 June 2022: triable on indictment only if offence arranged or facilitated is section 5, section 6, section 8, section 9 (if penetration involved) or section 10 (if penetration involved); otherwise triable either way.

For offences committed before 28 June 2022: triable either way

Maximum:

For offences committed on or after 28 June 2022:

  • Life imprisonment (if offence arranged or facilitated is section 5, section 6 or section 8 (if penetration involved) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003)
  • 14 years’ custody (if offence arranged or facilitated is section 7, section 8 (if no penetration involved), section 9 or section 10 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003)
  • 10 years’ custody (if offence arranged or facilitated is section 11 or section 12 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003)

For offences committed before 28 June 2022:

  • 14 years’ custody

For offences committed on or after 3 December 2012, these are offences listed in Part 1 of Schedule 15 for the purposes of sections 273 and 283 (life sentence for second listed offence) of the Sentencing Code.

These are specified offences for the purposes of sections 266 and 279 (extended sentence for certain violent, sexual or terrorism offences) of the Sentencing Code.

When sentencing a section 14 offence, sentencers should refer to the guideline for the applicable, substantive offence of arranging or facilitating under sections 5 to 12:

The level of harm should be determined by reference to the type of activity arranged or facilitated. Where the activity takes place, sentences commensurate with the applicable starting point and range will ordinarily be appropriate.

No sexual activity need take place for a section 14 offence to be committed (including in instances where no child victim exists). In such cases the court should identify the category of harm on the basis of the sexual activity the offender intended, and then apply a downward adjustment at step two to reflect the fact that no or lesser harm actually resulted.

The extent of this adjustment will be specific to the facts of the case. In cases where an offender is only prevented by the police or others from conducting the intended sexual activity at a late stage, or where a child victim does not exist and, but for this fact, the offender would have carried out the intended sexual activity, only a very small reduction within the category range will usually be appropriate.

Where, for instance, an offender voluntarily desisted at an early stage a larger reduction is likely to be appropriate, potentially going outside the category range.

In either instance, it may be the case that a more severe sentence is imposed in a case where very serious sexual activity was intended but did not take place than in a case where relatively less serious sexual activity did take place.

The sentence will then be subject to further adjustment for aggravating and mitigating features, in the usual way.

For offences involving significant commercial exploitation and/or an international element, it may be appropriate to increase a sentence to a point above the category range. In exceptional cases, such as where a vulnerable offender performed a limited role, having been coerced or exploited by others, sentences below the range may be appropriate.

© Sentencing Council: 2024

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