Combined Guidance for Returning Officers at Local Government and Police and Crime Commissioner Elections in England

The following guidance has been produced to support Returning Officers (ROs) in England in planning for and delivering the poll at local government elections where the poll is combined with a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) election. It has been written to cover both ordinary and by-elections. 

It has been developed in close consultation with colleagues across the electoral community including the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), the UK Electoral Coordination and Advisory Board (ECAB) and the Elections, Registration and Referendums Working Group (ERRWG).

It reflects the RO’s legal obligations and what we, and colleagues across the electoral community, believe that ROs should expect of their staff in preparing for and delivering local government elections.

Performance Standards

In addition to our role in providing advice and guidance, we set standards and monitor the performance of ROs through our performance standards framework.

Our guidance to support the delivery of your functions includes what we expect ROs will need to have in place and what we would expect to see for the key outcomes of the standards to be delivered. You should be mindful of this framework in the planning and delivery of the election.

For more information on the framework see our performance standards guidance for ROs. 

How to use this guidance

This guidance is directed towards the RO and the duties they carry out. As these duties may, in practice be carried out by deputies and/or appointed staff, we use the term ‘you’ throughout this guidance to mean the local government RO, the PCC Local Returning Officer (LRO) and whoever is carrying out the RO’s functions on their behalf. Where we refer to the duties or responsibilities of the Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) this will be explicitly stated.

Further guidance to support PAROs in carrying out their functions can be found in our guidance for PAROs.

Throughout this guidance we use ‘must’ to refer to a specific legal requirement and ‘may/should’ for recommended practice. 

You should read this guidance in conjunction with any additional guidance or directions issued by the PARO as part of their role in co-ordinating the delivery of the PCC election in their area. The PARO has the power to give general or specific directions to LROs relating to the discharge of their functions at the PCC election, and so when acting as LRO you must comply with any such directions.1  This power to give directions does not, however, extend to the local government election or the combined elements of the poll.2 You should liaise closely with the PARO and take into account any guidance issued by them in preparing for and delivering the polls as a whole.

The guidance is for principal area elections and PCC elections but also covers content relevant to planning for and administering parish council elections, mayoral referendums and mayoral elections, including combined authority mayoral elections. 

In this guidance the term ‘voting area’ is the local authority area. The term ‘police area’ is the area covered by the police force.

Where the guidance is different for combined authority/ combined county authority mayoral elections, local authority mayoral elections/mayoral referendums and parish elections, the information will be contained in an expanding section. This means that next to the relevant heading there is an icon with a + which will expand to show the relevant guidance.

References in this guidance to a local government election should therefore be read to include parish and mayoral elections unless otherwise stated. References to a mayoral election should be read to include combined authority/combined county authority mayoral elections unless otherwise stated.

This guidance does not cover the administration of council tax referendums or residential neighbourhood planning referendums.

Guidance to support ROs with other types of election is also available.

You can also access Guidance for Candidates and Agents.

To help you use this guidance we have produced a Q&A document that should answer any initial queries you may have.