Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England
Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England
The following guidance has been produced to support Returning Officers (ROs) in England in planning for and delivering local government elections. 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.
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 RO and whoever is carrying out the RO’s functions on their behalf.
Throughout this guidance we use ‘must’ to refer to a specific legal requirement and ‘may/should’ for recommended practice.
The guidance is for principal area elections but also covers content relevant to planning for and administering parish council elections, mayoral referendums and mayoral elections, including combined authority mayoral elections.
Where the guidance is different for combined authority mayoral, 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 mayoral elections unless otherwise stated. For the purpose of combined county authority mayoral elections, references to combined authorities should, unless specifically indicated otherwise, be read as references to combined county authorities.
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.
Combined Authority and Combined County Authority mayoral elections
For the purpose of combined county authority mayoral elections, references in this guidance to combined authorities should, unless specifically indicated otherwise, be read as references to combined county authorities.
If you are a local RO at a combined authority mayoral election you should read this guidance in conjunction with any additional guidance or directions issued by the Combined Authority Returning Officer (CARO) or Combined County Authority Returning Officer (CCARO) as part of their role in coordinating the delivery of the combined authority mayoral election in their area.
The CARO/CCARO has the power to give general or specific directions to local ROs relating to the discharge of their functions at the combined authority mayoral election, and so when acting as local RO you must comply with any such directions. However, where polls are combined, the power to give directions does not extend to any other election or the combined elements of the poll.
In any case, you should liaise closely with the CARO/CCARO and take into account any guidance issued by them in preparing for and delivering the polls as a whole.
We have produced separate guidance for CARO/CCAROs administering a Combined Authority or Combined County Authority Mayoral election in England.