Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Scottish Parliament elections

The spending and donations report for constituency and independent regional candidates is known as a return. The agent must complete the return,1 which should separately show expenses that have been incurred during the long and short campaign and 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  
• 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 value2
• invoices or receipts for any payment of £20 or over3
• details of any personal expenses4

The return must also include details of all donations over £50 and any authorised local campaigning spending.5 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.6 It is your responsibility to fully and accurately report candidate spending.

It is a criminal offence to make a false declaration knowingly.7

Agents for constituency candidates submit their return to the Constituency Returning Officer.

Agents for independent regional candidates submit their return to the Regional Returning Officer. 

You can find the contact details for the relevant Returning Office at Voting and elections.

Party list candidates do not have to submit a candidate spending return, since spending promoting them is covered by the controls on party spending.

Political parties contesting the Scottish Parliament election must also report the details of their campaign spending to us. Detailed information can be found in our guidance document for political parties.

Forms you will need:

We have amended the returns for this election. You now report the long and short campaign in the same form. If you use the forms we are keen to hear from you, about how it worked and whether there are any areas for improvement. Please send any feedback to [email protected].

Sample completed spending return

We have published a sample constituency 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.