The Joint Committee on Human Rights expressed concerns about the validity and size of FPNs and the review and appeal process, in its report, The government’s response to COVID-19: fixed penalty notices, published this week.
It called for a comprehensive review of all FPNs issued to date, a mechanism to challenge new FPNs, a decision that no criminal record should result, and an assessment of income for big fines.
More than 85,000 FPNs of up to £10,000 have been issued since March 2020. The regulations have changed at least 65 times, and a Crown Prosecution Service review of prosecutions in February found 27% were incorrectly charged.
Harriet Harman MP, the committee chair, said the government ‘needs to ensure that rules are clear, enforcement is fair and that mistakes in the system can be rectified. None of that is the case in respect of COVID-19 FPNs’.
