The election agent of each candidate contesting the election must report the details of their spending and donations to the Returning Officer after the election.1
The spending and donations report is known as a ‘return’.
You must still submit a spending and donations return even if you haven’t spent any money or received any donations.2
This is called a ‘nil 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 invoices not received or payments not made by the deadline
Both the agent and the candidate must submit declarations to the Returning Officer confirming that the return is complete and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief.7
There are separate declaration forms for this. If the candidate is acting as their own agent, they only need to complete the candidate declaration.
It is a criminal offence to make a false declaration knowingly.8
Forms you will need
If you have spent money or received donations during the campaign, you should use this spending return form and declarations to report your spending to the Returning Officer:
If you have not spent any money or received any donations during the campaign, the law does still require a return and declaration to be submitted. We have produced a nil return for you to use alongside the declarations:
You can find the contact details for your Returning Officer via the elections office using our postcode lookup.