The spending limit for the regulated period is £960, plus 8p per entry in the local government register in the ward you are standing in on the last day for publication of the notice of election.1
Your local electoral registration officer will be able to give you the number of registered electors in the local authority in which you are standing.
Example A
If there are 7,500 entries in a ward, the spending limit is:
£960 + (7,500 × 0.08) = £1,560
Spending limits for ‘joint candidates’
You are a joint candidate if you stand in the same election in the same ward and one of the following conditions applies:
However, using the same campaign rooms by accident or coincidence is not in itself enough to make candidates joint candidates.3
Joint candidates have lower spending limits, as they are sharing some of the costs. You should calculate your spending limit as explained above, and then reduce it by:
The election agent must submit a spending and donations return for each joint candidate. If you are not sure if you are a joint candidate, please contact us.
Example B
Two candidates standing in the same ward decide to issue joint campaign material. This makes them joint candidates. There are 7,500 entries in the ward in which they are standing.
To calculate each joint candidate’s spending limit, first calculate the spending limit for a single candidate:
£960 + (7,500 × 0.08) = £1,560
Then calculate 25% of this amount:
£1,560 × (25 ÷ 100) = £390
Take this amount off the spending limit for a single candidate:
£1,560 − £390 = £1,170
This is the spending limit for each of the two joint candidates.