As the regulator of UK party and election finance, we make sure people understand and follow the rules on party and election finance.We regulate the financing of political parties, organisations and individuals engaged in campaigning. We strive to help the regulated community comply with the rules by providing advice and guidance, and we enforce the law when these rules are not followed.
Legislation
We provide information on laws governing the registration and financing of political organisations and individuals.
Guidance
We provide guidance on how to comply with the law to those we regulate. This includes advice on how to register a political organisation and to report statutory returns.
Public registers
We maintain several public registers of political parties and details of their donations, borrowings, campaign expenditures and annual accounts.
You can also see information on regulated donees (such as MPs, members of a party and certain organisations), third parties and permitted participants in a referendum.
Statements of accounts
All registered political parties must submit an annual statement of accounts to us with details of their income and expenditure.
Analysis
We analyse the financial data provided by political parties and make the information more intelligible through summaries, charts and tables
Enforcement
We verify that those we regulate comply with the rules and we take undertake fair, thorough and proportionate investigations so that voters can be confident that those who fail to comply are held to account.
Recent news
Updates from the Director
Our Director of Party and Election Finance, Lisa Klein, recently wrote to all party treasurers to update them on a number of developments that are contributing towards meeting our objective of transparency in party and election finance, with high levels of compliance. The letter covers a number of areas in our compliance work, including how to use our online system to maintain your party, the upcoming deadlines for submitting statements of accounts, and an update on how our review of the law on party and election finance is progressing.
Our review of party finance rules
The rules on party finance have now been in place for 10 years, and over the next few months we will be carrying out a technical review of how they are working in practice. We are looking particularly at where the rules could do their job more effectively, and where there is scope to reduce administrative burdens on political parties and others. We would welcome your views on these issues.
For more information email Party and Election Finance or call 020 7271 0616.
Party Election Finance (PEF) Online
PEF Online is our database of party and election finance registers.
You can use the search facility to find information about registered political parties, registered campaigners in referendums and non-party campaigners (third parties), and to search donations, loans and spending data. Once they have registered as a PEF Online user, parties can also use PEF Online to maintain their registered details and submit statutory returns.
Prioritising our regulatory activity
This paper sets out how we plan to prioritise our limited audit resources more effectively and it also highlights how we will offer advice and guidance proactively to those political parties and accounting units that may benefit or need it most.
