Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

Upon notification of an election agent’s name and address, you must publish a notice setting out those details as soon as possible.1

You should also include the full name of the candidate on this notice, and you could add any commonly used name in brackets, for completeness.

However, there is no legal requirement to use both their full name and commonly used name, and you can decide on the approach to take. Whichever approach is followed, you should ensure that you apply it consistently for all candidates on the notice.

The notice must be updated if any agent’s appointment is revoked, or an agent dies, with the new agent’s details published on the revised version.2  

Your privacy notice should make clear that you are required under electoral legislation to publish an election agent’s name and address information in the notice of election agents. The notice serves a specific purpose, i.e. advising who will be a candidate’s election agent, so once the election is over, and the opportunity to question that election has passed, they serve no further purpose. You should either remove the notice, or remove the personal data contained in the notice, once the petition deadline for the election has passed.

Our guidance on data protection covers the requirements of a privacy notice and document retention considerations.