Guidance for Candidates and Agents at local government elections in England

The spending and donations report is known as a ‘return’.

The agent must complete the return, which should include the following for each item of spending:

• what the spending was for – for example, leaflets or advertising
• the name and address of the supplier
• the amount or value
• details of when it was incurred and paid
• details of any unpaid or disputed amounts
• details of any notional spending, and a declaration of its value1
• invoices or receipts for any payment of £20 or over2
• details of any personal expenses3

The return must also include details of all donations over £50 and any authorised local campaigning spending.4  There is more information on the details that you need to report in Candidate spending and Candidate donations.

The candidate and agent must also sign a declaration that the return is complete and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief.5 It is your responsibility to fully and accurately report candidate spending.

It is a criminal offence to make a false declaration knowingly.6

Forms you will need:

New versions of spending return

Updated versions of the new candidate returns are now available for agents to use. We have designed these to be easier to use - for example, they will automatically add up the totals. They are currently available alongside the existing form, so that agents can use either version to submit their return.

Following feedback from users, we have also updated the new nil return, to make reporting easier for candidates who have not incurred any spending or received any donations:

If you use any of these forms, you still need to submit the candidate and agent declarations linked above. You must submit your return and declarations to your Returning Officer. You can find the contact details for your Returning Officer via the elections office using our postcode lookup.

We are still keen to hear from you if you use any of the new forms, about how it worked and whether there are any other areas for improvement. Please send any feedback to [email protected]. Please do not send returns or declarations to this inbox.

Sample completed spending return

We have published a sample candidate spending return to illustrate how one might be completed. It is not intended to be used to fill in your expenses.

It contains comments highlighting links between different parts of the form - for example something reported as notional spending, which is also reported as a donation.