DASH, in partnership with Nottingham City Council, is pleased to offer a comprehensive one-day practical training course on civil penalties and the Nottingham Model for calculating civil penalty amounts.

This course is designed for Environmental Health practitioners and others who want to learn more about these new powers but also for Councils wishing to adopt the ‘Nottingham Model’ for their own civil penalty calculations.

Wednesday 9th January 2019

10am – 4pm
Nottingham Mechanics Centre, 3 N Sherwood St, Nottingham NG1 4EZ
Email: Linda.cobb@derby.gov.uk

What does the course cover?

The one-day course will guide attendees through the following:

•  An understanding of the legislation and guidance behind civil penalties
•  An understanding of the steps needed to adopt civil penalty powers
•  The evidence base needed for civil penalties
•  How to manually calculate the penalty amount using the ‘Nottingham Model’
•  How to use to ‘Nottingham Model’ Civil Penalty Calculator
• What notices need to be served for a civil penalty
•  Dealing with representations and tribunal appeals
•  How to register unpaid civil penalties as debts

What are the expected outcomes?

By the end of the course, each of the attendees will have the knowledge to:

•  identify suitable offences for civil penalties
•  gather sufficient evidence for the civil penalty
•  calculate the penalty amount, either by hand or using the Nottingham Model Civil Penalty Calculator
•  serve the appropriate notices
•  deal with representations and tribunal appeals
• register any unpaid civil penalties as debts

How will the course be structured?

The course covers a wide range of topics so the day will be split between an interactive presentation in the morning, followed by practical guided exercises in the afternoon.

The combination of these two approaches should make it easier for attendees to absorb and use the training material. Following the training, each attendee will be sent a pack containing copies of all the relevant legislation, guidance and notes needed to continue using civil penalties with confidence.

What is the ‘Nottingham Model’?

The ‘Nottingham Model’ is a calculation based approach that Nottingham City Council developed to calculate the amounts for its civil penalties under the Housing and Planning Act 2016. It was developed with careful consideration of the legislation and the guidance for civil penalties. The advantage of a calculation based approach is that Nottingham City Council was able to build a calculator that takes all the hard work out of the process and helps to ensure consistency and transparency.

Looking to adopt the ‘Nottingham Model’ for your council?

For Councils that would like to adopt the Nottingham Model, we can provide copies of the guidance document in a format that can be easily amended or personalised to suit each individual council.

All attendees on the course will also be provided with a copy of the ‘Nottingham Model Civil Penalty Calculator’, and training in its use, for use with the ‘Nottingham Model’.

Some Local Authorities may decide that they would like amendments making to the Civil Penalty Calculator and these can also be accommodated but the cost for this will need to be negotiated on an individual basis, depending on the amount of work required.