Combined Authority and Combined County Authority Returning Officer guidance for Combined Authority Mayoral elections

Candidates are required to complete a home address form, which must be delivered by hand, accompanied by the nomination paper, by the close of nominations. The form is not prescribed but the information that needs to be provided is set out in law. 

On the home address form the candidate must state:

• their full name
• their home address in full
• their qualifying address, or, where they have declared on their consent to nomination that they meet more than one qualification, their qualifying addresses
• which of the qualifications their qualifying address or addresses relate to
• the full name and the home address in full of the witness to the consent to nomination form 

The candidate’s home address:

• must be completed in full
• must not contain abbreviations
• must be their current home address 
• must not be a business address (unless the candidate runs a business from their home)

If any detail of the home address is wrong or omitted, the nomination is not automatically invalid if the description of the place is such as to be commonly understood.

We have produced a set of nomination papers for standing at a combined authority and combined county authority mayoral elections that contains all the forms needed for nomination. We have produced a separate set of nomination papers for candidates standing where the combined authority or combined county authority mayor will also take on the functions of a Police and Crime Commissioner.

Candidates who don’t want their home address published

A candidate may choose for their home address not to be published on the statement of persons nominated or the ballot paper. 

In this case the home address form must contain, as well as the full name and home address:1

• a statement, signed by the candidate, which states that they require their home address not to be made public 
• if their home address is in the UK, the name of the relevant area in which their home address is situated 
• if they their home address is outside of the UK, the name of the country in which their home address is situated  

If the candidate chooses not to have their home address appear on the statement of persons nominated and the ballot paper, the relevant area in which the candidate’s home address is situated or, if they live outside the UK, the country in which they live must be printed instead.

Meaning of qualifying address and relevant area

Qualifying address means:

• where a candidate has selected option (a) on the consent to nomination, the address in full where they are registered as a local government elector
• where they have selected option (b) on the consent to nomination, the description and the address of that land or premises which they have occupied as owner or tenant
• where they have selected option (c) on the consent to nomination, the address of their place of work 
• where they have selected option (d) on the consent to nomination, the address or addresses in full of where they have resided

Relevant area means:

For home addresses in England:

• if the address is within a district for which there is a district council, that district
• if the address is within a county in which there are no districts with councils, that county
• if the address is within a London borough, that London borough
• if the address is within the City of London (including the Inner and Middle Temples), the City of London; and
• if the address is within the Isles of Scilly, the Isles of Scilly 

For home addresses in Wales:

• if the address is within a county, that county
• if the address is within a county borough, that county borough

For home addresses in Scotland:

• the local government area in which the address is situated

For home addresses in Northern Ireland:

• the local government district in which the address is situated