Fine bands and relevant weekly income
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
Court fines for driving and other summary offences are not flat sums: each sits in a band, A to F, expressed as a percentage of relevant weekly income, so the offence fixes the band and the payslip fixes the pounds. Band B is what drivers describe as a week's wages, band A half of one. What no notice explains is that the income the court uses is the one it is given: say nothing about means and the arithmetic runs on an assumed figure that takes no notice of the real one.
Reading the notice
The means form asks for weekly income after tax and National Insurance; that figure, not gross pay, is the relevant weekly income the band multiplies (Sentencing Council)
The sentence notice itemises fine, surcharge and costs as separate lines; only the fine line is banded, the others ride on top
A band does not appear on the page as a letter; what shows is the product, so a figure that looks arbitrary is usually a percentage of what the form said, moved within the range for aggravation or mitigation
The decision in front of you
Return the means form and the fine tracks the real income, downwards as well as up: benefit and low incomes are deemed 120 pounds a week, and the court must weigh financial circumstances either way, s. 125 Sentencing Act 2020
Plead guilty at the first stage and a third comes off the fine; the surcharge, set as a share of the fine, falls with it, the prosecutor's costs do not (Sentencing Council, 2017 guideline)
A fine is due in full on the day unless terms are set; courts routinely order instalments through a collection order instead, with 12 months the usual outer marker and longer for the top bands (Sentencing Council)
Leave the form blank and the court may assume 440 pounds a week; the assumption stands until real figures arrive, and undoing it afterwards is an application to remit under s. 127 Sentencing Act 2020, not a phone call
What happens next
After sentence the collection order governs: pay on the terms set, or default steps follow, from further time orders to attachment of earnings and enforcement, Sch 5 Courts Act 2003
New means information travels one way: the court can remit part or all of a fine when real figures surface, s. 127 Sentencing Act 2020, but the band itself, fixed by seriousness, does not move
Paid is the end of the money; the conviction and any points live their own record life, three years for the totting count and four on the record, covered in the totting up guide
The numbers
Bands as percentages of relevant weekly income, starting point and range: A 50, range 25-75; B 100, range 75-125; C 150, range 125-175; D 250, range 200-300; E 400, range 300-500; F 600, range 500-700 (Sentencing Council, checked 2026-07-17)
Deemed income for benefit or low incomes: 120 pounds a week; assumed income where no information is given: 440 pounds (Sentencing Council, checked 2026-07-17)
Statutory maxima by level: level 1, 200 pounds; level 2, 500; level 3, 1,000; level 4, 2,500; level 5 unlimited since 13 March 2015 (Sentencing Council, checked 2026-07-17)
The surcharge rate and how the bands play out for speeding: see the speeding calculator at /fines/speeding, figures dated there
The deadlines
The means form travels with the plea, so under the Single Justice Procedure its clock is the notice's 21 days
The guilty-plea reduction is staged: one third at the first stage, at most a quarter after it, sliding to a tenth on the first day of trial (Sentencing Council, effective 1 June 2017)
Payment runs on the collection order's terms, with 12 months the usual ceiling for instalment plans and up to two years for the top bands (Sentencing Council)
What people get wrong
Ignoring the means form as optional paperwork; the assumed 440 pounds a week exceeds many part-time and benefit incomes, and band C of an assumption is still payable
Reading the band percentage as a ceiling; the ranges run above the starting point, and aggravation moves the figure up within them
Comparing the court total with the 100-pound fixed penalty; the fine line alone is banded on income, and surcharge and costs sit on top, so the gap between ticket and court is wider than the band suggests
Authority
Sentencing Council, Approach to the Assessment of Fines (fine bands, relevant weekly income)
ss. 125 to 127 Sentencing Act 2020
Sentencing Council, Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea (1 June 2017)
Sch 5 Courts Act 2003