Application across the book’s scenarios
| Scenario | Possible perjury analysis |
|---|---|
| Care proceedings | A witness lawfully sworn knowingly gives a material false account of abuse, disclosure, risk, contact or care alternatives. The family court makes welfare findings; criminal perjury is separately investigated. |
| Care-home dispute | A manager’s inaccurate internal record is not perjury. It may become relevant if the manager later adopts a material statement on oath while knowing it is false. |
| Sheltered or home-care case | False sworn evidence about visits, alarms, family availability or funding can qualify if materiality, knowledge and the statutory proof safeguards are established. |
| Professional evidence | A mistaken expert opinion or disputed judgment is not perjury. The prosecution must isolate a factual statement, materiality and dishonest belief. |
| Child removal | Knowingly false sworn evidence that materially supports removal may engage the offence; the order’s validity and the criminal liability of the witness are separate issues. |
| What would usually be insufficient | Unsworn reports, inconsistency alone, memory failure, immaterial error, opinion honestly held or absence of the required corroborative proof. |
Under the Perjury Act 1911, perjury requires a person lawfully sworn as a witness in judicial proceedings to wilfully make a material statement which they know to be false or do not believe to be true. Statutory evidential safeguards apply. Mistake, inconsistency, opinion, an unsworn report or evidence rejected by a judge is not automatically perjury.
Care evidence
Perjury may be alleged where a witness knowingly lies on oath about assessed care, family availability, risk warnings, visits or funding and the statement is material to the judicial decision. The exact sworn words and the witness’s belief at that time must be proved.
Suspected abuse and removal
A witness who knowingly invents an abuse disclosure or denies decisive exculpatory facts on oath may meet the offence if materiality and the remaining elements are proved. The family court can make civil findings and protect welfare, but it does not convict for perjury; criminal investigation and prosecution are separate.
Evidence
Obtain the transcript or recording, oath, order and reasons, source documents, original disclosure record, audit trail, prior and later accounts, materiality analysis and corroboration satisfying the special proof rules.