Annual Report and Accounts 2025/26

The Commission has strengthened over the last year, with the support and engagement of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, the Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Body and the Llywydd’s Committee of the Senedd, each of which has scrutinised and guided our work, and approved our plans and budgets. 

We have talked extensively to political parties, candidates and voters across the country. The UK’s democratic debate is vibrant, and we pay tribute to all those who stand for elected office, who run elections, and the many volunteers whose support is essential. 

Elections are a critical part of our national infrastructure. They need safeguarding to ensure they remain fit for the future. Fair 
and transparent elections face threats in the form of intimidation and harassment of campaigners, mis- and disinformation, cyber attack and voter fraud. We have stepped up our work on all of these, in particular to support implementation of the 
recommendations of the Speaker’s Conference, working closely with the police and Returning Officers across the country. Early work has started on a Code of Conduct, which would be agreed by parties and visible to the public. This would outline how 
political parties themselves should take strong action if their candidates are responsible for intimidation and harassment of other candidates. The Commission’s cyber defences have strengthened significantly, and we are working with many partners to build these further across the sector.

The Representation of the People Bill was introduced in the UK Parliament in early 2026 and includes many recommendations made by the Electoral Commission. We believe these reforms will strengthen the resilience and integrity of our electoral system, tackle many of the threats it faces, and improve how elections work for voters, campaigners, parties and administrators. We continue to advise on and discuss the Bill and its implementation with parliamentarians, and to provide research for informed debates. As part of the Bill, we saw the government announce a repeal of the power to impose a Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral 
Commission. For us this is essential. We are accountable to the UK Parliament, the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament, but we must remain an independent regulator, clearly impartial, and able to determine our own strategic and policy priorities and 
how we deliver our functions.

An important part of our role is to help support voters to participate in elections. Our research shows as many as 8 million people are currently not on the electoral register. We have encouraged parliamentarians to act to deal with this issue across the UK. We also know that this has more of an impact on certain groups, such as people aged between 18 – 34, and people with disabilities, so this year we have updated our guidance to support them. Private renters who may move more regularly and therefore not have updated their details also might not be on a register. 

We have evaluated successful automatic voter registration pilots in Wales, and are working with the Welsh Government on implementing automatic registration in Wales, and with the UK Government on provisions in the Representation of the People Bill to enable a similar change nationally. This set of changes is crucial, and we urge rapid implementation, but this needs to be carefully coordinated across the country. 

Electoral law in the UK is outdated, over-complicated, and inconsistent. As the statutory regulator, we have continued to provide independent advice to the UK Parliament, the Senedd, and the Scottish Parliament about changes to policy and legislation, drawing on relevant experience and expertise. We were pleased to see many of the proposals outlined in the Representation of the People Bill and as it progresses we will be clear about the scale and complexity of the changes, and whether they can be delivered effectively, without compromising security or accessibility, and about the importance of consolidation of electoral law. 

I would like to end by thanking our outgoing Commissioners Lord Stephen Gilbert and Sarah Chambers for their important contributions to the Commission over many years, and to welcome Rashik Parmar and Alan Mabbutt who are joining us.

John Pullinger CB
Chair

This has been a dynamic year of delivery of elections, new projects, and change, as we complete the first year of our 2025 – 2030 Corporate Plan. The Plan was agreed by the Speaker’s Committee, the Senedd‘s Llywydd‘s Committee and the Scottish Parliament last year, and I am delighted with the progress we have made. 

The Corporate Plan committed to support voters and increase participation, modernise the electoral system, safeguard and protect the system, lead an informed debate about the future of elections, and strengthen the Electoral Commission. This year we helped to deliver local and mayoral elections in May 2025 in England, and prepared for the local and mayoral elections in England, Scottish Parliament elections, and Senedd elections in May 2026. 

As part of our priority to support voters and increase participation, we ran a successful voter awareness campaign for the May 2025 elections which secured over 300,000 applications to the electoral register, as well as campaigns highlighting requirements for voter ID. We made sure the public were alert to possible election fraud with our Your Vote is Yours Alone campaign. Our post election research told us that 79% of people were confident that the elections were well run, 95% were satisfied with the process of voting, and 90% of people knew they needed to show ID to vote. But there were also useful pointers from this research to improve how we deliver future elections.

Our role is to support political parties and campaigners to be compliant with election regulation, but also to be confident that they can campaign fairly and safely. We have recently modernised our electoral guidance, creating bespoke training and animated video formats to support candidates and agents, and publishing amended guidance for the delivery of Scottish Parliament and Senedd elections, including significant updates due to legislative change. And our project to replace our Political Finance Online system – where political candidates and parties register their financial data – is going well, and will allow us to ensure political finance is transparent.

But we see rising threats to our democratic system. The 2025 elections still showed an increase in abuse and intimidation towards candidates, with our most recent candidate research showing that 61% of respondents experienced harassment or security threats during their campaigns. 71% said they avoided some campaign activity, such as campaigning alone or at night. This damages the way voters talk to candidates, a fundamental part of democracy - so it is vital that we help tackle this issue. The Speaker’s Conference made key recommendations, which we are implementing. The Commission is supporting electoral administrators to ensure safe delivery of elections, has spoken in the media to raise awareness, and is working closely with the police to encourage all forces to treat allegations seriously and consistently.

Another threat to our democratic process is deepfake political content, which continues to proliferate online and influence public opinion. Ahead of the May 2026 elections we launched our Deepfake Detection pilot in England, Scotland and Wales. This enables us to scan and monitor for deepfake electoral material. We have a range of tools to tackle such material, in particular when they mislead voters about the electoral process. We work closely to support any candidates or parties who are victims of deepfakes and alert those who need to know. We store any evidence, so we can gain, with our partners, a greater understanding of how deepfakes occur - and who lies behind them. 

We continue to share best practice with others across the globe who manage elections. This year we have met with delegations of legislators and electoral management bodies visiting the UK from Sweden, South Korea and Japan. In late Summer 2025 we hosted a visit from the Ukrainian Electoral Commission to London, where we signed an agreement between the UK Electoral Commission and the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine to develop and deepen co-operation on electoral matters. This will include discussing developments and innovation on electoral administration, cyber security, and voter education. We are proud to share with, and learn from, our international colleagues, in service of a common goal of a healthy and free democracy, and we stand ready to support Ukraine prepare for future elections. 

Finally, our work engaging young voters has stepped up hugely. Our work aims to help prepare young people ahead of the UK Government’s plans for England and Northern Ireland to lower the voting age to 16 to match Scotland and Wales, and we will be providing educational material through schools, colleges and communities. Our Welcome to Your Vote Week campaign provided an opportunity to hear from around 700,000 young people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Youth Forum hosted the launch of Welcome to Your Vote Week, our Wales office hosted an event at the Senedd with 400 attendees, and in Scotland we worked with partners to raise awareness, guiding 150 schools to sign up. A particular highlight for me was being ‘grilled’ by young people at the Democracy Classroom Strategy Day, who showed their knowledge, acuity, and pleasure in robust debate and challenge. Many thanks to all our partners in this crucial work.

Vijay Rangarajan
Chief Executive