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

As part of your planning you should identify what directions you expect to issue to local ROs, although there may of course be issues that arise at a later stage on which it becomes desirable or necessary for you to give directions at short notice. Should you decide that the use of directions is appropriate, you should include specific plans for developing and issuing directions and a communications strategy to support this process in your project plan.

If you are considering giving directions or guidance to local ROs you should take into account any relevant criteria in the performance standards framework and/or Electoral Commission guidance. The performance standards framework and Commission guidance reflect what we and the UK Electoral Coordination and Advisory Board (ECAB) and the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) agree that Returning Officers need to do to prepare for and deliver well-run elections. This shared agreement, along with the flexibility in how the standards are achieved, should reduce the potential risk of conflict between the criteria of the standards and any guidance or directions issued by CARO/CCAROs.

In order that local ROs can be clear as to precisely what is expected of them, if you do intend to give any guidance or directions that are different or contrary to the criteria of the standards, please contact our Commission teams in the first instance to discuss the implications so that we can avoid there being any unresolved conflicting requirements placed on local ROs as far as possible.

In deciding whether to give a direction on a particular aspect of the election, and what that direction should be, you should aim, wherever possible, to consult your local ROs, so that you can take into account any relevant local factors in making your decisions. This consultation should help to reduce the risk of any directions having unintended consequences and potentially maximise the ability of local ROs to comply with them. 

In particular, you should ensure that when you are deciding on any potential directions you intend to give, you have considered and consulted with other local ROs on whether and how the direction applies in areas where polls are combined. 

Any consultation on possible directions should be planned for and completed in good time to enable the prompt and timely communication of your decision and any associated directions to local ROs, to enable them to plan and prepare for the election accordingly.

If you decide to exercise your power of direction, you should do so with regard to the following principles and aims:

• trust: people should be able to trust the way our elections work
• participation: it should be straightforward for people to participate in our elections (whether as campaigners, candidates or voters) and people should be confident that their vote counts
• consistency across the combined authority area
• transparency
• professionalism
• accurate results in which people can have confidence

You should communicate any directions to local ROs at the earliest opportunity, particularly any requiring them to take specified preparatory steps. You should keep a record of what directions have been given, when, and to whom. 

Local ROs are legally required to comply with any directions you issue. However, your plans for giving directions should take account of the fact that there may be circumstances where local ROs are unable to comply with a direction, for whatever reason. You should therefore ensure that you develop plans to deal with these situations, which may include establishing a process for considering requests for exceptions to your directions. You should keep a record of any instances where you have agreed that a local RO can deviate from a direction.