This guidance is for non-party campaigners who are campaigning locally at Senedd elections.

Under the Senedd Cymru (Representation of the People) Order 2025, non-party campaigners must follow rules about how much they can spend on campaign activities in the run up to certain elections.

This guidance explains how the rules apply.

Non-party campaigners are individuals or organisations that campaign in elections but are not standing as political parties or candidates.

Non-party campaigners must follow certain rules in the run-up to elections.

The types of non-party campaigns

There are two types of non-party campaigns. These are:

Please see Non-party campaigners: Senedd elections for guidance on general campaigns.

If your campaign involves both local and general campaigning, the controls that apply in these scenarios can be complicated. In these cases, we recommend you contact us for tailored advice.

If you are campaigning for or against one or more individual candidates at a Senedd election, you are covered by the rules for local campaigns. This includes where you are campaigning against a political party or party list candidate in favour of an individual candidate.

Under the local campaign rules, there are limits on how much you can spend on campaigning for or against one or more individual candidates in a constituency.

These spending limits cover spending on most campaign activities, including leaflets, meetings and digital campaigning.

The Electoral Commission does not regulate local campaigning. Complaints about possible breaches should be made to the police. 

Local non-party campaigners can spend up to £1,000 on campaigning for or against one or more individual candidates in a constituency.1  This is known as the permitted sum. It applies during the candidate regulated period.

You should keep a record of your spending, to make sure that you do not exceed the permitted sum.

You can only spend over the permitted sum if it is authorised in writing by a candidate or agent at the election.2  The authorised spending will be candidate spending and will count towards the candidate’s spending limit.3  If you have been authorised to incur candidate spending, you should read our guidance for candidates and agents.

If authorisation is given, the agent will need to include your spending in the candidate's spending return. You will need to give the agent the necessary details for that spending to be included. You must also complete a spending return and declaration and deliver these to the relevant Returning Officer within 21 days of the result being declared.1

You can find contact details for the local elections office using our postcode lookup.

In both documents you must include:

• the name of the constituency
• the date of publication of notice of the election (you can find this out from your local Returning Officer)
• the name of the candidate who authorised, or whose agent authorised, the spending
• your name as the organisation or individual who incurred the spending

In the return you must include your total amount of spending, and you must attach the candidate or agent's written authorisation for your spending.

In the declaration you must declare that the return is complete and correct, and include details about what the spending was on, under “the matters for which the spending referred to were incurred”.