The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015

Unlawful disclosure of information

122.—(1) A person to whom paragraph (2) applies is guilty of an offence if the person discloses without lawful authority any information—

(a) which comes to the person by virtue of Article 121(1), (3) or (4), and

(b) which relates to a particular person.

(2) This paragraph applies to—

(a) a person mentioned in Article 121(7)(a), (c), (f), (g), (h), (j) and (k);

(b) a person who provides qualifying welfare services (within the meaning of Article 121);

(c) a person who is or has been a director, member of the committee of management, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) or (b);

(d) a person who is or has been an employee of a person mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) or Article 121(7)(a) to (k).

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this Article is liable—

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or a fine or both, or

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

(4) It is not an offence under this Article—

(a) to disclose information in the form of a summary or collection of information so framed as not to enable information relating to any particular person to be ascertained from it;

(b) to disclose information which has previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority.

(5) It is a defence for a person (“D”) charged with an offence under this Article to prove that at the time of the alleged offence—

(a) D believed that D was making the disclosure in question with lawful authority and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise, or

(b) D believed that the information in question had previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise.

(6) A disclosure is made with lawful authority if it is so made for the purposes of section 117 of the Administration Act.

(7) This Article does not affect that section.

(8) Regulations under Article 121(7)(n) may include provision for applying the provisions of this Article to—

(a) a person who is a qualifying person within the meaning of Article 121 by virtue of the regulations, or

(b) a person associated with such a qualifying person by reason of the person’s office or employment or otherwise.