The OFFICIAL Cake Fines & Offences ACT 2018

Cake Fines in the emergency services, are a good way of ensuring that minor infractions of work-related (informal) rules are suitably ‘punished’.

But with so much confusion out there, in terms of what does and does not constitute an ‘official’ cake fine, then we thought that we would share this handy piece of ‘legislation’.

An Act to consolidate all fines and offences committed by Emergency Service personnel that require payment by means of cake within England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Be it enacted by and with the advice and consent of all registered and recognised Emergency Service authorities within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —

Crashing of emergency service vehicles.

• A person who, whilst in charge of an Emergency Service vehicle which results in that vehicle being involved in a collision with any other motor vehicle on a road or any other place, is guilty of an offence.
• A person who, whilst in charge of an Emergency Service vehicle which results in that vehicle being involved in a collision with anything other than a motor vehicle, is guilty of an offence.
• An offence committed under this section does not require personnel to be inside the vehicle at the time a collision occurred.
• A fine is liable to persons in charge of a vehicle whether or not they were at fault.

Being late to start of shift.

• A person who without lawful or reasonable excuse arrives late to the start of their shift is guilty of an offence.

Causing or permitting colleagues to be late off shift.

• A person who causes or permits any person other than themselves to be late off due to:
  1. Negligence
  2. Incompetence
  3. Laziness

shall be guilty of an offence.

Failure to pay existing cake fine. 

• A person who is subject to an existing cake fine or offence within this Act or any other reason, but fails to pay said cake fine or offence is guilty of an offence under this Act.
• A person guilty under subsection 1 above shall, if found guilty be liable to have their existing fine or offence doubled in amount not exceeding twice the original requirement. 

• A person celebrating a birthday shall be liable to a cake fine whether or not:
  1. It is a milestone birthday
  2. Their birthday falls on a day they are at work
  3. Their birthday falls during any annual leave

Confirmation in post.

• A person who has completed their relevant service’s probationary period and is therefore confirmed in post is liable to a fine.

Transferring of positions or locations.

• A person who without good reason, requests a transfer to another department or location is liable prior to leaving, a fine not exceeding 1 cake per person on their own shift.
• Please see section 9 for retirement fines.

Leaving service prior to retirement. 

• A person who without good reason, leaves their post of their own free will and is prior to the current retirement age is guilty of an offence.
• A person shall not be guilty of an offence under this section if they are:
  1. Leaving on medical grounds excluding maternity leave
  2. Is on secondment that is not at their request
  3. On Maternity leave

• A person shall not be liable to a fine or guilty of an offence under this Act if they are retiring at or post the statutory retirement age.

False activation of emergency assist button.

• A person, who, without lawful or reasonable excuse causes or permits to cause the false activation of their personal radio emergency assistance button, is liable to a fine under this Act.

Losing or taking home of keys or fuel cards. 

• A person, who, without reasonable excuse
  1. Loses a key
  2. Loses a fuel card
  3. Takes home a key
  4. Takes home a fuel card

to vehicles that belong to their employer is liable to a fine under this Act.

• A person who commits an offence under subsection 1 above must also return said items to their employer as soon as practicable, but does not necessarily need to pay their fine on return of said items.

Failure to lock workstations.

• A person, who, without reasonable excuse, fails to lock a computerised workstation and causes or permits to cause another person to seize upon that moment to send emails on their behalf, is guilty of an offence.
• A person who seizes an unlocked workstation to send those emails is not guilty of an offence under this Act.

OFFENCES SPECIFIC TO POLICE FORCES

The leaving of pocket note books unattended. 

• A person who without reasonable excuse, leaves unattended their pocket note book is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine.
• A person is guilty of an offence under this section whether or not their pocket note book ends up with drawings or notes made in pages.

Inappropriate activation of CS or PAVA. 

• A person who without lawful or reasonable excuse, causes or permits to cause the activation of their CS or PAVA canisters within:
  1. A police station
  2. A police vehicle
  3. A hospital
  4. Any other place when not required

is guilty of an offence.

Foot pursuits. 

• A person who loses a suspect whilst pursuing on foot due to fitness levels is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine.

Loss of detained persons. 

• A person who without reasonable excuse causes or permits to cause a detained person to escape their custody is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine.
• A person is guilty of an offence and liable to an increased fine if a detained person is handcuffed at the time.
• A person is not guilty under this section if they are injured when a detained person attempts to escape.

Police Dogs.

• Subject to subsection 2 below. A person is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of cakes and dog treats if they:
• Are bitten by a police dog because:
  1. They didn’t listen to a dog handler
  2. Tried to beat the dog to a suspect
  3. Got in the way of a police dog whilst is was working
• A person is not guilty of an offence under this section if they can prove beyond reasonable doubt, they did nothing wrong prior to being bitten.

PUNISHMENT OF OFFENCES 

Punishment of offences within this Act.

• A person found guilty of offences within this act are liable to fines which are payable through the purchasing of cakes for their shift.
• The amount of cakes per fine is not defined within this act. The amount of cakes required is determined by those organising the fines and the severity of the offence(s).
• A person liable to fines within this act, must clear these fines within 14 days of the offence occurring.
• Fines cannot be split to make the payments smaller over a period of time.
• No persons of any rank within any organisation are exempt from fine payments.
• Donations to a charity in lieu of cake may be permitted in certain circumstances:
  1. These circumstances are for a supervisor to determine.
  2. The donation must be at least the same amount that would have been paid in cake fines.
• A person does not have to reserve a cake or purchase a cake on separate occasions should some members of a team not be present on the day the fine is paid.

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