This guidance is for non-party campaigners who are campaigning at Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales.

Under The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012, non-party campaigners must follow rules about how much they can spend on campaign activities in the run up to these 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 have to follow certain rules in the run-up to elections.

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

This guidance covers the laws for local campaigns at Police and Crime Commissioner elections.

Spending on general campaigns is only regulated in the run-up to elections to:

• the UK Parliament
• the Scottish Parliament
• the Senedd
• the Northern Ireland Assembly

You can find guidance for other election types on our non-party campaigner search page.

If you are campaigning for or against a candidate at a Police and Crime Commissioner election, you are covered by the rules for local campaigns.

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

Under the local campaign rules, there are limits on how much you can spend on campaigning for or against particular candidates in a constituency or local electoral area. These limits are different, depending on the size of the electorate in the relevant area.

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

Local non-party campaigners can spend up to a ‘permitted sum’ in each police area during the regulated period on campaigning for or against candidate.1  Each police area has its own spending limit. It applies once the candidate is officially a candidate.

These limits are:2

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

Any spending over these limits must be authorised in writing by the agent of the relevant candidate. The authorised spending will count as candidate spending and 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 spending return. You will need to give the agent the necessary details for that spending to be included.

If you spend more than the limit you must also complete a spending return and declaration and deliver these to the relevant Police Area Returning Officer within 21 days of the result being declared.

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