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

Briefings

You should ensure that you offer all potential local government candidates and agents a briefing session before or at the start of the nomination period. You should also hold an additional briefing session after the list of candidates standing for election has been confirmed after the close of nominations.

As a minimum, your briefing should cover:

• the nomination process
• the election process
• election spending
• accessing the electoral register
• equipment provided to polling stations that makes voting easier for disabled people
• restrictions on the handling of postal voting documents by campaigners
• the Code of conduct for campaigners in Great Britain 

You will also need to decide how information about local arrangements will be provided. This will include information on the dates, times and venues for the key election processes including:

• postal vote issues and openings
• polling day
• the verification and count 

Police and Crime Commissioner elections

The PARO is responsible for the nomination process at PCC the election, and will provide the relevant nomination packs to any person who expresses an interest in standing.

As LRO you are responsible for the conduct of the poll in your voting area, i.e. your local authority area.

The PARO should ensure that information on the PCC election process and spending is easily available for candidates and agents. You should liaise with the PARO at an early stage to understand their plans for coordinating engagement with candidates and agents and disseminating information to them so that you can reflect this in your own planning as appropriate, and can be prepared to deal with enquiries from candidates and agents at the election.

You should liaise with the PARO to determine what information on local processes they will require for sharing with candidates and agents and to agree how this information should be disseminated. The information should be provided in good time to enable candidates and agents to act on it.

Briefings and providing information on local arrangements

The PARO may also request that local briefings are provided. These briefings should cover the key election processes you are responsible for: 

• Timings and location for postal vote issue and openings
• Polling day 
• Equipment provided to polling stations that makes voting easier for disabled people
• Timing and location for the verification and count 
• handling of postal votes

Whatever method you agree with the PARO for disseminating the information, you should ensure that candidates and agents can easily access all the information they need in order to be able to participate in the election.

The briefings should allow for the fact that there may be people who have little or no knowledge of election rules and procedures or who have not involved themselves in elections for some time. 

All briefing sessions should highlight the importance of following the election rules. You should also provide information on the standards of behaviour you expect from supporters in the area of the polling place on polling day.

We have produced a template presentation for candidates and agents at local elections which you may want to use as a basis for briefing candidates and agents in your area.

We have also produced a template presentation for candidates and agents at PCC elections, which is designed for use by PAROs, and a template presentation at a combined authority mayoral election which is designed for use by CAROs.

Providing written information 

You should ensure that all local election candidates and election agents are also issued with written guidance on the relevant election process and that the information is provided in good time to enable candidates and agents to act on it. 

For the PCC election, you should liaise with the PARO to ensure that candidates at the PCC election have access to information on processes that you will be carrying out locally, such as the opening of postal votes and the count.

The purpose of providing written guidance is so that parties, candidates and agents have access to authoritative and comprehensive guidance for reference at any time to ensure that they have all the information they need to take part in an election. 

Where appropriate, you can provide candidates and agents with a link to where they can find the relevant information online and it will be for you to ensure that candidates can easily access the information they need and to do whatever is necessary to facilitate this.

Accessibility 

You should ensure that candidates and agents can easily access all the information they need in order to be able to participate in the election.

You should bear in mind that candidates and agents may have specific access needs, and so may need any information or guidance produced in a large-print or other format, such as Braille or audio, or in a language other than English.

You should also consider that candidates and agents may have special requirements to support their attendance at briefings and you should make briefings available online or via video conference wherever possible. 

You can record your briefing and make this available online for candidates and agents to watch on demand at their convenience, with details of how they can ask any follow up questions afterwards included.

However, you will also need to consider how you will offer briefings to those who are unable to, or uncomfortable with, accessing such information online, which may require you to provide some in-person briefings. You should inform candidates and agents of your proposed approach early to assist with your planning and preparation. Those interested in receiving a briefing should be asked to register in advance so that you can track numbers as well as accessibility requirements, which will enable you to tailor your approach and put the appropriate arrangements in place.