Enforcement

Our role as regulator

As the regulator of party and election finance one of our primary objectives is to monitor and take steps to secure compliance with the controls and requirements set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA).

We also have a compliance role in respect of the controls on candidate expenditure incurred at elections under the Representation of the People Act 1983 (RPA 1983).

Click on the links below to find out more about:

Wherever possible, we use advice and guidance to secure compliance with the law. We are currently changing the guidance that we publish for those we regulate to make it clearer and more user-friendly. Our new-style guidance draws from expert advice and on survey findings from those who have used our guidance in the past.

Please follow the link below to find out more about:

Our enforcement powers and sanctions from 1 December 2010

The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 (PPE Act) provides us with new powers and sanctions relating to our enforcement provisions and investigative work. These new powers came into effect on 1 December 2010.

The changes will help us to operate in a way that is effective, fair and proportionate, recognising that many of those responsible for compliance with the law are volunteers.

What the enforcement changes include:

Revised powers to obtain information. For instance, our previous powers to access premises used by parties have been cut back, so that we can only use them in limited situations and with the agreement of a magistrate. Another change is that we can now seek information from people and organisations other than those we regulate, such as donors, but only where we have reason to believe the law has been broken.
New civil sanctions that we will be able to use instead of pursuing a breach of the law as a criminal offence. For instance, we could require an organisation that has broken the rules to take certain steps that will help them to comply in future, rather than referring the case to the police for criminal investigation.

How we will use the new powers and sanctions

We can only use the new sanctions where it is clear beyond reasonable doubt that the law has been broken. We will only consider using them in cases where we need to take enforcement action in order to achieve our objectives as a regulator. Wherever possible we will continue to use other methods, such as providing advice and guidance, to encourage compliance and ensure the transparency of party and election finance.

Read our new enforcement policy - effective 1 December 2010 (PDF)
This statutory guidance explains how we will use our new powers and sanctions.

Access our Enforcement Policy in Welsh here (PDF).

View table of offences and sanctions - effective 1 December 2010 (PDF)
This document details all the offences and contraventions in PPERA where civil sanctions are available. The new sanctions apply to breaches of the law occurring from 1 December 2010.
Click here to find out more about our new sanctions and read our frequently asked questions.

You can view information on the sanctions available to us for offences prior to 1 December 2010 by clicking on the link below:

Sanctions for offences occurring prior to 1 December (PDF)

Prioritising our regulatory activity

We have developed formal processes to enable us to deploy our resources more effectively. This includes the generation of risk profiles to inform our audit strategy. These profiles bring together various different pieces of information relating to parties’ financial characteristics, level of compliance with statutory obligations and scale of operation. Similar profiles are developed for accounting units with either income or expenditure over £100,000.

On 17 June 2011 we published pilots of these profiles.