Guidance for Candidates and Agents at local government elections in England

Personal expenses

Candidates who are not acting as their own agent must provide a written statement of their personal expenses to their agent no later than 21 calendar days after the election result is declared.1

Return and declarations

The agent must submit to the Returning Officer:

• an election spending return reporting details of the candidate’s spending and donations
• a declaration confirming the return is complete and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief

no later than 35 calendar days after the election result is declared2

Candidates who are not acting as their own agent must send the Returning Officer their declaration within seven working days of the return being submitted.3 If the candidate is outside the United Kingdom when the declaration is due, the deadline for submitting their declaration is extended to 14 days after they come back.4

Please note that if any of these deadlines fall on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline will move to the next working day.5 This has been included within the dates in the deadline table below.

There are consequences for failing to submit spending returns and declarations. These are set out in What happens if you don’t follow the law?