If you decide to deliver postal votes by hand, you should plan for how this will work in practice. You should appoint sufficient staff to ensure that postal ballot packs are received by postal voters as soon as possible to maximise the time postal voters have to receive, complete and return their postal vote.
You should ensure that staff are aware of data protection considerations, and should consider requiring staff to confirm in writing at the point of recruitment, that they will abide by your data protection policy.
You should also have in place a mechanism for monitoring the delivery of postal ballot packs, with a view to ensuring that they have been delivered across the whole of the voting area and to agreed timeframes. This may include requiring delivery staff to fill in log sheets, having supervisors carry out spot-checks, and monitoring any unusually low returns of completed postal ballots by polling districts.
Planning for ad-hoc deliveries by hand
There may be circumstances where you will need to issue postal ballot packs by hand, even where the majority of your packs have been delivered by post, for example when replacing lost or spoilt postal ballot packs, or when issuing postal ballot packs for applications that have been determined close to or on polling day.
You should plan for how this will work in practice, including how you will ensure that these postal ballot packs can be printed and delivered at short notice. More information on managing the delivery of additional postal ballot packs close to the poll can be found in our guidance on planning for the issue of postal votes.