Running electoral registration - England

The Eligibility Confirmation Review (ECR) process will be a stand-alone exercise and, once completed, no further equivalent action will be required in the future. 

EROs are required to deliver the ECR. As part of this, you must:1  

• identify those citizens of the EU who are eligible to remain registered to vote under the new criteria (e.g. as qualifying EU citizens, or EU citizens with retained rights) and confirm their maintained registration under the new criteria
• identify those citizens of the EU who are not eligible to remain registered to vote under the new criteria (e.g. as qualifying EU citizens, or EU citizens with retained rights) and remove them from the register

The end-to-end ECR process will consist of 2 parts. These are:

• the data-based review
• the correspondence-based review

The data-based review is the use of any data which the ERO may hold or have access to for the purpose of their registration duties which may enable them to identify qualifying EU citizens and EU citizens with retained rights without taking any further action other than to write to the elector to confirm they are being retained on the register.

The correspondence-based review is the process of writing out to any other electors whose continuing eligibility has not been confirmed by the data-based review to ask them to confirm if they remain eligible to be registered to vote under the new franchise criteria.

When must ECR be completed by?

You must have reviewed all electors who were registered under the old criteria and made a determination as to their eligibility under the new criteria by the end of 31 January 2025.2  

To make this determination, you must carry out the data-based review followed by a correspondence-based review where necessary. 

You must send communications to all electors to confirm the outcome of the review.3  

The exceptions to the requirement to have made a determination as to their eligibility under the new criteria by the end of 31 January 2025 are:4   

• Where you have requested further information from an elector in order to make a determination, and the date for response specified in your request has not yet passed.
• The 14 day period within which the elector may appeal your decision has not yet passed.
• Where the elector has requested a review hearing and this has not yet been heard or they have not yet been notified of the outcome.