Guidance for (Acting) Returning Officers administering a UK Parliamentary election in Great Britain

You will need to put arrangements in place for the delivery of postal ballot packs. You have a choice of two methods:1

• by hand
• by post

Whichever method you choose, you should ensure that you have a detailed plan covering all actions required to achieve the successful delivery of postal ballot packs. You can find more information in our guidance: Working with mail delivery partners.

Where postal vote applications have been determined close to a poll you should be satisfied that any chosen delivery method will allow sufficient time for the voter to receive, complete and return their postal vote by the close of poll.  

If you believe a postal vote to an elector whose application has been determined close to a poll will not be delivered in time, you should try and contact the elector and make arrangements for them to collect their postal vote from you instead where practicable.  

As part of your integrity planning for the election, you should inform your police single point of contact (SPOC) of the date you will start dispatching postal ballot packs to electors. This will mark the date from which there is a higher risk of postal voting fraud and they should build this into their own planning. You can find more information in our guidance: Maintaining integrity.