Quarter 4 2011

On 22 February 2012, we published the donations accepted and borrowing by all political parties during Quarter 4 2011 (October, November and December).

This page provides data and charts on:

• donations accepted by political parties in Quarter 4 2011
• donations reported late in Quarter 4 2011
• donations accepted per accounting unit
• donor type
• top donors
• public funds
• borrowing reported in Quarter 4 2011 and total outstanding

The analysis on this page is based on data from our PEF Online Donations search which provides full details of all donations. We also maintain several other registers of parties and finances.

For questions or requests, please contact the Party and Elections Finance Directorate by email (pef@electoralcommission.org.uk) or telephone (020 72710616).

Donations accepted

Nine political parties have reported accepting donations totalling £6,921,680 between 1 October and 31 December 2011 (excluding public funds, donations reported late, impermissible donations and donations from unidentifiable donors). Donations reported this quarter that should have been reported in a previous quarter (donations reported late) have not been included but can be viewed in the specific section below. 

The figures do not include all donations accepted by political parties. Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000, parties are required only to report to us:

• donations above £7,500 to the central party (including aggregation)
• donations above £1,500 to accounting units (including aggregation)

Prior to 1 January 2010, parties were required to report donations above £5,000 to their party headquarters (HQ), and £1,000 to accounting units. Thresholds for reporting donations changed with the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 (PPE Act) which became law in July 2009.

Click here to find out more about the legislation on donations to political parties.

Table 1: Donations accepted by political parties in Quarter 4 2011 (October, November and December)

Figures are rounded to the nearest pound and may be subject to change if donations accepted in Quarter 4 2011 are reported late in future.

Other donation types include visits and donations from Trusts.

Chart 1: Donations accepted by party in Quarter 4 2011

Note: Chart and figures may be subject to changes if donations are reported late in future quarters.

Donations reported late

Donations must be reported in the quarterly return for the period in which they were accepted. Any donation not reported in the quarter it was accepted is a donation reported late.

Four parties reported 14 donations in the Quarter 4 2011 return that should have been reported in previous quarters totalling £151,760.

Click here to view full details and analysis of all donations reported late since Q1 2007 (XLS).

Table 2: Donations reported this quarter that should have been reported previously

The total has been broken down by central party/HQ and accounting units according to the section of the party that failed to report the donation on time.

Figures are rounded to the nearest pound.

Chart 2: Trend: level of donations reported late since 2007

Amount of donations reported late by quarter, broken down by party.

Donations accepted per accounting unit

Table 3: Accounting units that received most donations (amount) during Quarter 4 2011

Parties' headquarters are excluded. Figures have been rounded to the nearest pound. 

Donor type

Parties can only accept donations from permissible sources. These are set out in the legislation and parties have got 30 days to decide whether they can accept or should return money received from the donor.

Click here to know more about eligible donors and the legislation on political parties finance.

Table 4: Amount accepted by political parties in Quarter 4 2011 by type of donor

Figures have been rounded to the nearest pound. 

Chart 3: Breakdown by donor type of all donations received by parties in Quarter 4 2011

Chart 4: Breakdown (in percentage) of donations made to parties by category of donor

This charts presents how each of the different donor types contributed in percentage to the parties' Quarter 4 2011 donation income.

Chart and figures may be subject to change if donations are reported late in future quarters.

Top donors

Table 5: List of Quarter 4 2011 top donors

This table lists the top ten donors for Quarter 4 2011. Figures have been rounded to the nearest pound.

The table only includes donations accepted in October, November and December 2011 (Quarter 4 2011).  Donations reported late are not included. 

Public funds

Six political parties reported receiving public funds in Quarter 4 2011 totalling £2,078,790

Following the 2010 UK general election, the distribution of public funds has changed. For more information, please visit Parliament's website.

Click here to find out more about public funds.

Table 6: Public funds received by political parties broken down by type

In brackets is the entity responsible for paying the provision. Figures have been rounded to the nearest pound. 

Borrowing

During Quarter 4 2011, four parties entered into new loans totalling £78,864. 

The total amount of loans repaid or converted into donations this quarter was £127,429.  One late loan repayment totalling £2,000 was reported this quarter.

Two parties reduced the amount available through credit facilities by £1,328,000.  Two extinguishments of credit facilities totalling £40,000 were reported late this quarter.

The Conservative and Unionist Party reported the extinguishment of one connected transaction totalling £10,000.

Table 7: Loans outstanding by parties as at 31 December 2011

A loan is an agreement where a person (or organisation) makes a loan of money to the party. The conditions of the loan are agreed by the party and the lender. Parties are required to report not only the loan but also changes to the agreed terms and conditions, including when a loan ends. The amount displayed is the total amount to be lent under the agreement (not including interest).

Table 8: Credit facilities outstanding by parties as at 31 December 2011

A credit facility is an agreement where a registered party is entitled to receive a loan of money from time to time from another person (or organisation). The credit facility will generally have an upper limit specified in the credit facility agreement. Examples of common credit facilities include overdrafts and credit cards. The amount displayed is the maximum that can be borrowed and not the amount that is drawn upon at any one time.

Table 9: Connected transactions outstanding by parties as at 31 December 2011

A connected transaction is an arrangement where a person (or organisation) gives any form of security on behalf of a political party in respect of a loan or a credit facility arranged with someone other than the party or the person giving security. Where a person (or organisation) has provided security or a guarantee, it is the maximum that they could be liable to pay.

All figures are rounded to the nearest pound and are subject to change if borrowing are reported late in future quarters.

Details of all borrowings 

All borrowing by political parties with full details and totals can be viewed on our PEF Online Transactions search.

All borrowing reported late from 2008 can be viewed by downloading this file (XLS).

Contact us

For any question or request, please contact the Party and Elections Finance Directorate by email (pef@electoralcommission.org.uk) or telephone (020 72710616).