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

Translation and formats of notices 

You must ensure that notices are translated or provided in another format if appropriate.1 You may produce them: 

• in Braille 
• in languages other than English (or, in Wales, English and Welsh)
• using graphical representations
• in audio format2  
• using any other means of making information accessible 

The nomination form and the ballot papers cannot be produced in any other language or format.3  

The enlarged hand-held and display copies of the ballot paper(s) used in the polling station must have the instructions for voters printed at the top of the paper(s). These instructions may be translated into languages other than English or, in Wales, English and Welsh.4

Ensuring information on notices is accessible

You should ensure that any information about the polls, including the notices of election and notices of poll are:

• easily accessible to all voters
• available in an accessible format
• available in time for voters to cast their vote

Information can be made available through the local authority website. 

The information provided on your website should be accessible to voters. You could speak to your authority’s equalities officer or web team for advice on how to do this.  

If you are providing information in PDF format, you should be aware that if certain steps are not followed when creating PDFs, they may not be compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies. 

The UK Government has produced a guide to producing accessible PDFs you can refer to.