Single Justice Procedure Notice and the 21-day window
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
A Single Justice Procedure Notice means a prosecution has already begun: a written charge, decided on the papers by one magistrate sitting with a legal adviser, used by police forces for speeding and similar summary offences that cannot carry prison, and by prosecutors such as DVLA and TV Licensing. Recipients tend to call it the court letter or a postal summons, though no hearing date is fixed unless someone asks for one. What the notice does not say is what silence costs: after 21 days the justice can convict on the prosecutor's papers alone, with the fine set on an assumed income and no guilty-plea reduction.
Reading the notice
The date at the top starts the 21-day reply window; the clock runs from the date on the notice, not from the day the envelope was opened
The papers behind the charge sheet are the whole case: the justice may consider only those documents, any records notified alongside them such as the driving record, and written mitigation sent back with the plea, s. 16A MCA 1980
The statement of means form travels with the plea page; returned blank or not at all, the fine is set on an assumed income rather than a real one
The decision in front of you
Plead guilty on the papers within 21 days and the case ends by post: the single justice convicts and sentences on the documents, the written plea counts as the first stage so the guilty-plea third is available (Sentencing Council, 2017 guideline), and the fine is banded on the means form
Plead guilty and ask to attend, and sentencing moves to open court; the same reduction applies, the day in court is the price, and means and mitigation are said aloud rather than written
Plead not guilty, or give notice that the paper route is not wanted, s. 16B(2) MCA 1980, and a summons follows for a hearing; the reduction falls to at most a quarter after the first stage, sliding to a tenth by the first day of trial
Silence hands the case over: after 21 days the justice can try the charge in absence on the prosecution papers, s. 16A MCA 1980, at the assumed income and with no reduction available; and where a ban is in prospect the paper route pauses: the court must offer the chance to make representations and, on request, the case moves to open court with a summons, s. 16C MCA 1980
What happens next
The result arrives by post, itemising fine, surcharge and the prosecutor's costs, the last set by the court with the notice's figure as its starting point; enforcement then runs like any court fine
A conviction that was never known about can be undone: a statutory declaration under s. 16E MCA 1980, served within 21 days of first learning of the proceedings and accompanied by a response to the notice, voids them and restarts the case; a later declaration can be accepted where earlier service was not reasonable to expect, s. 16E(5)
The six-month clock of s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 no longer protects: it was satisfied when the charge was laid, and the charge date on the notice shows whether it was; from here the clocks are the reply window and, after conviction, payment
The numbers
Guilty-plea reduction: one third where the plea is indicated at the first stage, and a written plea within the notice's time limit counts as the first stage (Sentencing Council, effective 1 June 2017, checked 2026-07-17)
Assumed relevant weekly income where no means information is given: 440 pounds; deemed income for benefit or low incomes: 120 pounds (Sentencing Council, checked 2026-07-17)
Fine bands and the statutory caps for speeding: see the fine bands guide and the speeding calculator at /fines/speeding, figures dated there
The deadlines
21 days from the date on the notice to return the plea and means form (gov.uk); the window runs from the notice, not from delivery
A statutory declaration for an unknown conviction must be served within 21 days of the day the proceedings first became known, s. 16E MCA 1980; later service needs the court to accept that earlier service was not reasonable to expect
The prosecutor's own deadline sat before the notice: the charge had to be laid within six months of the offence, s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, and the charge date on the notice shows whether it was
What people get wrong
Treating the notice as junk because no hearing date appears; after 21 days the conviction can follow in absence, on an assumed income and with no reduction
Returning the plea but not the means form; the band is then applied to the court's assumed figure, which for part-time or benefit incomes sits above the real one
Counting the 21 days from the day the letter arrived; the window runs from the date printed on the notice
Authority
ss. 16A to 16F Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (inserted by s. 48 Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015)
s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980
Sentencing Council, Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea (1 June 2017)
Sentencing Council, Approach to the Assessment of Fines