⇒ Section 11 of the Fraud Act 2006 creates an offence of obtaining services dishonestly. It states:

⇒ 1. A person is guilty of an offence under this section if he obtains services for himself or another -

1. by a dishionest act, and
2. in breach of subsection (2).

⇒ 2. A person obtains services in breach of this subsection if -

1. they are made available on the basis that payment has been, is being or will be made for or in respect of them,
2. he obtains them without any payment having been made for or in respect of them or without payment having been made in full, and
3. when he obtains them, he know -
1. that they are being made availbe on the basis described in paragraph (a), or
2. that they may be,

... but intends that payment will not be made, or will not be made in full.

⇒ This offence is restricted to services which were provided on the basis that they would be paid for. It does not cover cases where by a deception the defendant persuades the victim to provide gratuitous services.

• So if the defendant were to persuade the victim to do his gardening because the defendant was suffering back pain, whereas in fact the defendant was fine, just lazy, the offence would not be committed.

⇒ Notice that unlike fraud, the offence requires the defendant to have actually obtained a service as a result of the dishonest act.

⇒ It should also be noted that the offence is only committed where it is the deception which has caused the obtaining. So if the victim would have provided the service even if the defendant had told the truth then no offence would be committed.