Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA), there are laws on fundraising and spending that political parties must follow in the run-up to certain elections. 

This guidance provides information on the regulated period, spending limits, campaign spending, reporting requirements and deadlines for the Senedd election on 7 May 2026. 

Candidates at the Senedd election can stand as an individual candidate or a party list candidate in one of the 16 constituencies.

This guidance applies to political parties and party list candidates only. The rules for individual candidates are different. We produce separate guidance for candidates and their agents, which can be found here: Guidance for candidates and agents: Senedd election.  

When parties issue election material it must contain details known as an imprint. We have separate guidance on imprints.

Terms and expressions we use 

In this guidance, we use ‘must’ when we refer to a specific requirement. We use ‘should’ for items we consider to be minimum good practice, but which are not legal requirements.

We use ‘you’ or ‘the responsible person’ to refer to the person who is responsible for campaign spending. This will be the registered campaigns officer if one has been appointed, or the registered treasurer if not.

Translations and other formats  

For information on obtaining this publication in another language or in a Braille version please contact the Electoral Commission:

Tel: 0333 103 1928

Email: [email protected] 

Diversity and inclusion guidance for registered political parties

Under the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024, Welsh Ministers have a duty to produce guidance for registered political parties to encourage them to promote the diversity of their candidates for Welsh elections. As a result of this, the Welsh Government has published voluntary guidance for parties. For details, please see gov.wales/diversity-and-inclusion-guidance-registered-political-parties.

Campaign spending is what your party spends on certain activities to promote the party or criticise other parties during a particular period in the run-up to the election. 

This period is called the ‘regulated period’. The regulated period is the time when the spending limits and rules apply.

The regulated period for the 2026 Senedd election begins on 7 January 2026 and runs to polling day on 7 May 2026.1   

Spending on activities to promote your party list candidates will also be party campaign spending. Any spending you incur which promotes your party or any of its candidates in the regulated period is included, unless that spending was reported in a candidate return or a recall petition return.

This includes spending promoting your party in the Senedd election but also spending promoting your party in any other elections in Wales during the regulated period. 

The maximum amount that you can spend on campaigning during the regulated period is based on how many candidates you are standing in each constituency.

There are 16 constituencies in Wales. There are six seats in each constituency, but a party can field up to eight candidates on their list for a constituency.

Each constituency your party is contesting adds an amount to your spending limit, based on the number of candidates you are standing in that constituency. The spending limit is a national limit, which means you do not have to attribute your spending to particular constituencies. There is no constituency spending limit.

For each constituency you are standing in, you add between £52,500 and £70,000 to your spending limit, as set out in the table below.1   If you stand at least six candidates in a constituency, you will get the maximum of £70,000.

If your party is standing at least six candidates in every constituency, your total spending limit will be £1,120,000:
£70,000 × 16 = £1,120,000
 

Who is responsible for party campaign spending?

A party’s registered treasurer is usually responsible for making sure that the party follows the laws on campaign spending.1  However, if a party has registered a campaigns officer, this person is responsible for campaign spending instead.2

You can appoint deputies to help with some of your responsibilities. You can do this on PEF Online or by using Form RP5.

Authorising and paying campaign expenses

Only the responsible person registered with us, their deputies, and people authorised in writing by the responsible person can incur and pay for party campaign spending.3

By ‘incur’ we mean making a legal commitment to spend the money. For example, someone may be authorised to spend money on particular items, or up to a particular amount.

You incur election spending when you enter a transaction with a supplier and become liable to pay for the item, goods or service they have provided to you. For example, you hire a printing company to print leaflets, or you sign a contract to rent an office.

Payments are often incurred and paid at the same time. For example, if you buy something online or in a shop. 

Sometimes spending is incurred before it is paid. For example, if you engage an events company to run your manifesto launch, the spending is incurred when you engage their services. The payment is made later, once they invoice you after the event.

Spending by or on behalf of the party promoting party list candidates will count as party campaign spending.4  Accordingly, these expenses must be authorised by the responsible person.  

These laws are in place to make sure that you can be in control of your party spending and accurately record and report it. It is important you have sufficient processes in place to allow you to keep track of spending.

You should make sure that your volunteers and campaigners know who can and cannot incur and pay costs.

Parties with accounting units

Your party may have accounting units registered with us, such as constituency parties. Although they report their accounts separately, accounting units remain part of the party. 

Any spending by or on behalf of an accounting unit is spending by the party.5  It must therefore be incurred and paid by someone authorised by the responsible person and must appear in the spending return along with receipts for any items of over £200.6

Any transfer between accounting units, or between an accounting unit and the central party, is an internal transfer. This includes for example any gifts, loans or sales.

This means it is not possible for an accounting unit to donate to the central party. Instead, this would be the party moving around its assets internally.

Similarly, if an accounting unit provides or transfers something to the central party for use in the campaign, this is not notional spending. This is because, since the accounting unit is a part of the party, it cannot provide or transfer anything that the party does not already own.

In this situation, the central party would be using something it already owned. Therefore, if it was the first time the party had used it, the spending would count as party spending in this election – see Use of items.

Spending on promoting the party list candidates counts towards the party campaign spending limit and must be reported by the party. 

Candidates standing on a party list may incur personal expenses. Personal expenses include the reasonable travel and living expenses of the candidate for the purposes of and in relation to the election.1  These expenses will only count towards the party spending limit if the party reimburses the candidate for the personal expenses. 

Personal expenses are regulated throughout the regulated period. Once they are officially a candidate, candidates can only pay up to £900 on personal expenses. Any additional personal expenses must be paid by the party’s treasurer.2  There is no limit to how much candidates can pay for personal expenses before they officially become a candidate.

Party list candidates must submit a declaration to the Returning Officer to report the total amount of personal expenses they paid during the regulated period. The deadline for submitting this declaration is within 35 days of the election result being declared.3  The candidate should not include any personal expenses that have been paid or reimbursed by the party in the declaration.4

For more information, please see the Guidance for candidates and agents.

Campaign spending is what the party spends on certain activities to promote itself or its candidates, or criticise other parties, during the regulated period.1

Party campaign spending will also include spending on activities to promote your candidates. Spending incurred by party list candidates must be authorised by the party.2  

Campaign spending includes any items or services used during the regulated period, including:

• items or services bought before the regulated period begins, but used during it3
• items or services given to the party free of charge or at a non-commercial discount of more than 10% and then used in your campaign (see Notional spending)4

All party spending must be reported to the Electoral Commission after the election.5

Activities included in campaign spending are:6  

• party political broadcasts, if your party is entitled to one
• party advertising of any kind. For example, street banners, websites or YouTube videos
• unsolicited material sent to voters about the party. For example, production costs of the election addresses and letters or leaflets you send that are not in response to specific queries
• the manifesto and other documents setting out your party’s policies
• market research or other methods of finding out which party people intend to vote for (where the research involves identified candidates however, it may be candidate spending)
• party press conferences or other dealings with the media
• transport in connection with promoting or publicising your party
• party rallies and events, including the cost of people’s attendance, and any goods, services or facilities provided

Which costs are included?

You must include any relevant costs associated with each activity. For example, if you are producing leaflets or advertising, you must include the design and distribution costs. You must also include overheads or administrative costs which are associated with each activity. 

Guidance on the relevant costs associated with each activity is included in the following sections. It is not an exhaustive list. If you have queries about specific overhead costs, please contact us for advice.

Where relevant overhead and associated costs are incurred, the amount that counts as campaign expenditure is the portion that reasonably reflects usage during the campaign. It is that portion which must be included in the return and counts towards the spending limit.1

This applies to items such as:

• office space
• business rates
• electricity bills
• provision of phone lines and internet access
• provision of office equipment of any kind

The proportion that reasonably reflects usage is generally the amount that is incurred over and above the usual costs in a given period.

If you are entitled to party political broadcasts, you must include the production costs as campaign spending. You do not need to include the value of the airtime.

You must include the cost of use, or hire, of any:

• agency, individual or organisation
• services provided by any agency, individual or organisation
• premises or facilities
• equipment

to prepare, produce or facilitate the production of the content or to broadcast the content.

Overheads and associated costs

It includes the cost of any software of any kind for use on any device for the design and production of material in-house.

This includes the cost of use, or hire, of any:

• agency, individual or organisation
• services provided by any agency, individual or organisation
• premises or facilities
• equipment

that is used to:

• prepare, produce or facilitate the production of advertising material
• distribute or facilitate the dissemination of that advertising material via any means, including any cost attributable to increasing the visibility of content by any means.

Costs associated with obtaining information and targeting or identifying voters, including database costs

This includes the cost of accessing, obtaining, purchasing, developing or maintaining:

• IT software or contact databases
• any information, by whatever means

that is used to facilitate the sending of unsolicited material to voters.

This includes the cost of use, or hire, of any:

• agency, individual or organisation
• services provided by any agency, individual or organisation
• premises or facilities
• equipment

used to:

• prepare, produce or facilitate the production of any manifesto or other document
• disseminate or distribute the manifesto or other document, via any means

including any cost attributable to increasing the visibility of content via any means.

Services, premises, facilities or equipment provided by others

This includes the cost of use, or hire, of any:

• agency, individual or organisation
• services provided by any agency, individual or organisation
• premises or facilities
• equipment

used to:

• prepare, produce or facilitate canvassing or market research
• conduct or co-ordinate canvassing or market research
• record or analyse or otherwise utilise the results of any market research or canvassing activity

This includes the cost of use, or hire, of any:

• agency, individual or organisation
• services provided by any agency, individual or organisation
• premises or facilities
• equipment
  used to prepare, produce, facilitate or conduct press conferences or other dealings with the media.

It includes the cost of specialist press or media software or subscriptions.

It includes the cost of any rights or licensing fee for any image used in preparation, production, facilitating or conducting press conferences or other dealings with the media.

It includes the cost of purchase and use of any equipment in connection with preparation, production, facilitating or conducting press conferences or other dealings with the media.

It includes a relevant proportion of the cost of:

• office accommodation
• business rates
• electricity
• phone rental and internet access

associated with dealing with the media, such as co-ordinating press conferences or media activity, or drafting press releases, or other media related activities, including where a party has existing press conference facilities on its premises.

It includes the cost of food and/or accommodation for any individual who provides services in connection with press conferences or other dealings with the media, for the party where that is paid for or reimbursed by the party. 

Transport of volunteers and campaigners

It includes the cost of transporting:

• volunteers
• party members, including staff members
• other campaigners

around the electoral area, or to and from the electoral area, including the cost of:

• tickets for any transport, including any booking fee
• hiring of any transport
• fuel or electricity purchased for any transport
• parking for any transport

where they are undertaking campaigning on behalf of the party.

It includes the cost of transport paid for by any individual, political party or other third party that is paid for or reimbursed either by the political party or a third party, where the individuals being transported were campaigning or undertaking activities associated with the campaign for the party.

Other costs that are included 

This includes the cost of use, or hire, of any vehicle or form of transport that displays material promoting the party, including any cost associated with:

• design and application of the design to the vehicle or form of transport
• travelling between electoral areas
• travelling around an electoral area
• parking fees where a vehicle is used to display material

It includes a portion of the cost of:

• office accommodation
• business rates
• electricity
• phone rental and internet access

when these are associated with planning, booking or using transport of any kind, or where a vehicle or form of transport is being prepared for use in electoral areas. For example, the cost of design and applying the design promoting the party to the side of a bus.

It includes all transport costs associated with other spending matters. For example, transporting someone to a rally.

This includes the cost of use, or hire, of any:

• agency, individual or organisation
• services provided by any agency, individual or organisation
• premises or facilities
• equipment

used in:

• promoting a rally or other event
• holding or conducting a rally or other event to promote the party
• live streaming or broadcasting a rally or other event by any means

It includes the cost of promoting or advertising the event, via any means.

It includes the cost of an event that is being held via a link of any kind or is being live streamed or broadcast, where that event is open to be viewed by users of a channel or platform or by other means.

It includes the cost of the provision of any goods, services or facilities at the event, for example the cost of hiring seating.

It includes the cost of purchase of any equipment in connection with:

• holding or conducting a public meeting to promote the party
• live streaming or broadcasting a public meeting by any means

Associated costs

It includes a relevant proportion of the cost of:

• office accommodation
• business rates
• electricity
• phone rental and internet access

associated with:

• promoting a rally or other event
• holding or conducting a rally or other event to promote the party
• live streaming or broadcasting a rally or other event by any means

It includes the cost of food and/or accommodation for any individual who provides services in connection with:

• promoting a rally or other event
• holding or conducting a rally or event to promote the party
• live streaming or broadcasting a rally or other event by any means

Costs that are not included

It does not include the costs of your party conference.1

Activities not included in campaign spending are:

• local newsletters about elected representatives or prospective candidates1
• material sent only to your members2
• expenses met out of public funds. For example, financial assistance provided by the Access to Elected Office Fund Wales to support disabled candidates, or security costs for VIP visits3
• reasonable costs relating to a party list candidate’s disability4
• permanent, fixed term or temporary staff costs where the staff member has a direct employment contract with the party5
• reasonable expenses attributable to the protection of people or property, for example hiring security, using a PO Box to avoid publicising a home or office address on imprints, or purchasing antivirus software for protecting campaign computers6
• costs associated with translating anything from English into Welsh or from Welsh into English7
• volunteer time8
• people’s travel, food and accommodation costs while they campaign, unless you reimburse them9
• office running costs, except costs that are higher than usual because of campaigning, such as telephone bills
• party conferences10
• anything which a candidate properly declares on their spending return11
• anything which a registered recall petition campaigner properly declares on their spending return12
• party list candidates’ deposits
• postage costs relating to the free election address promoting the party or party list candidates

Volunteer time

Sometimes you may not be sure if someone is a volunteer or if their time should be treated as notional spending. For example, they may offer similar services professionally to the ones they are performing for you.

They will be a volunteer if:

• their employer is not paying them for the time they spend on your campaign, or
• they are using their annual leave, or
• where they are self-employed, you won’t benefit from any professional insurances they hold

If they use specialist equipment or materials, you should consider whether their use is notional spending.

When you use an item for the first time, you must include the cost.1

This includes items that were bought and paid for before the regulated period began, but used during it.

You should make sure that you keep the receipts for anything costing over £200 that you may later use in a regulated period, because you will need to include them in your spending return.

Items that are not used

You do not have to report spending on items that are not used (for example if leaflets are never distributed) and this does not count against the spending limit. You should retain the unused material or evidence it was destroyed.

If you use the leftover items at a later election, you must report the spending on those items at that later election.

Re-use of items

Where you have paid for an item, you must report the full cost at the time of first use, even if you intend to use it again at a future election.

If you do use it again at a subsequent election, you do not have to report the original payment again. There may be some associated costs which must be reported at that election, for example for storage or cleaning.

Sometimes you might use something in your campaign that you did not have to spend money on, because it was provided to you as a benefit in kind, for free or at a non-commercial discount. 

For example, this could be because the supplier supports your campaign. 

Some examples of a benefit in kind could be:

• space in a hall for an event
• printing
• providing volunteers with food and transport

When this happens, the full commercial value of what you used counts towards your spending limit and must be reported.1

This is called ‘notional spending’. 

There are five tests that must all be met in order for an item (ie goods, a facility or a service) to count as notional spending:

1. it is transferred to you, or provided for your use or benefit 
2. you receive the item free of charge or at a non-commercial discount of more than 10%
3. the difference in value between the commercial rate and what you pay is over £200
4. the item is made use of by or on behalf of the party
5. it would have been campaign spending if you had incurred the spending (see What activities count as spending?)

This means that any notional spending will also be a donation to the party if it is over £500, and must be reported separately. Please see our guidance for more information on donations to political parties.

If you receive items free of charge, then you must record the full market value of the item if it’s more than £200.

If you receive items at a non-commercial discount of more than 10% and the difference in value is more than £200, you must include the value of the discount as notional spending. The amount you actually pay must be included as normal party spending.

Commercial and non-commercial discounts

Notional spending is only applicable to non-commercial discounts which are special discounts given to you, specifically, by suppliers. This includes any special rate which is not available on the open market.

These are different to commercial discounts available to all customers, such as discounts for bulk orders or seasonal reductions. Items, goods and services purchased with commercial discounts will not be treated as notional spending. 

Made use of by or on behalf of the party

If you are provided with an item but you do not use it, it will still be a donation if it is over £500, but it will not be notional spending.2

A person only makes use of something on behalf of a political party if that use has been directed, authorised or encouraged by the party, the responsible person, or one of their deputies.3

Valuing notional spending 

If the supplier is a commercial provider, you should use the rates they charge other customers. If this information is not available, you should find out what similar providers charge for the same goods or services and use this as the commercial value.

You should keep a record of how you reached your valuation and keep copies of any quotes you receive.

The value you declare in your spending return should be an honest and reasonable assessment of the commercial value.

Why you may need to split spending

You may need to split your costs between activities and materials that count as campaign spending and those that don’t. 

Here are two common examples of where you need to split spending:

• if you use your office as a base for telephone canvassing, you will need to split the phone bill between canvassing calls, and calls made for non-campaign purposes
• if you use design work for campaigning before the regulated period begins, and continue to use it after it has begun, you will need to split the design costs between the two periods

There are time limits by which the responsible person must receive and pay all invoices for your campaign spending.

Receiving invoices from suppliers

You must obtain all your invoices for your campaign spending from suppliers within 30 days of the election.1  As this deadline falls on a weekend it is moved to the next working day.2

The last day for receiving invoices from your suppliers is Monday 8 June 2026.

Invoices received after this deadline are called unpaid claims for the purposes of reporting. You must record unpaid claims in your spending return.

You must not pay unpaid claims unless there is a court order enabling you to do so. This is called leave to pay and may be obtained by you or the supplier applying to the relevant court in advance of payment.3

Paying invoices from suppliers

You must pay all your invoices from suppliers within 60 days of the election.4  The last day for paying invoices is Monday 6 July 2026.

Invoices received in time but remaining unpaid after this deadline are called disputed claims. You must record disputed claims in your spending return.

You must not pay disputed claims unless there is a court judgment or order enabling you to do so. This is called leave to pay and may be obtained by you applying to the relevant court in advance of payment. Suppliers may also apply to the relevant court to obtain a court judgement or order for payment.5

Enforcement

We may issue a civil sanction for a breach of these rules.

However, we will not usually consider taking enforcement action to be proportionate where the delay or amounts are small.

Final decisions on prosecution for receiving and paying late invoices are made by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Political parties contesting the election must report the details of their campaign spending to us after the election.1

You must record all your campaign spending. You will need to send us this information in your spending return after the election.

All costs must include VAT, even if VAT does not appear on the invoice, or you can recover VAT payments.

We provide a template form for you to use to help you keep records and complete your return. We recommend you use our template to ensure you are providing the details required by law.

You can download the form below and submit the completed form to us by email at [email protected] or you can post this to us.

Alternatively, you can submit your return on PEF Online.

If you are posting your return, we recommend that you post it in time to arrive no later than the last working day before the deadline.

What you need to record

You should record the following information to put into your spending return:

• what the spending was for – for example, leaflets or advertising2
• the name and address of the supplier
• for a payment made, the amount
• for notional spending, the value3
• the date that you spent the money
• any invoices not received by the deadline (unpaid claims)4
• any payments not made by the deadline (disputed claims)5

You must also include invoices or receipts for any payments over £200.6

Invoices are not required for notional spending, since it is not a payment, but the value of something that has been provided. It is good practice to include evidence of how you calculated the value.

The return must be accompanied by a declaration from the responsible person to say that the return is complete and correct. It is a criminal offence to make a false declaration knowingly or recklessly.7

You can report your campaign spending via PEF Online. 

We also produce forms and explanatory notes you can use for this. They cover all the information you must include. 

Donations and loans

Donations and loans are reported by parties on a quarterly basis when they exceed a certain threshold or are impermissible.

There are no additional requirements on parties for reporting donations and loans at the Senedd election. 

Donations and loans given to help with the campaigns of party list candidates will count as donations to the party. 

Your party’s registered treasurer is responsible for making sure that the party follows the law on donations and loans. You should ensure that you have systems in place for party list candidates and agents to provide the treasurer with all the necessary information about donations and loans they receive.

Please see our guidance on party donations and loans for more information.

The date by which you must report to us depends on how much you spent on your campaign. The deadlines are shown below.

You may be liable for a penalty if you don’t submit your return on time.

If your campaign expenditure is over £250k you must include an independent auditor’s report.3

For more information see this document: