Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Local Authority Mayoral elections in England

Registered political parties

A party must be on the Great Britain register to be permissible.1 You can find the full list of Great Britain registered political parties on our register of political parties.

Trade unions

A trade union must be listed as a trade union by the Certification Officer or the Certification Officer for Northern Ireland to be permissible.2 You should check the official list of active trade unions on the Certification Officer’s website or on the Certification Officer for Northern Ireland’s website.

Building societies

A building society must be a building society within the meaning of the Building Societies Act 1986 to be permissible.3 You should check the list of building societies registered by the Financial Conduct Authority on the Mutuals Public Register.

Friendly societies, and industrial and provident societies

To be permissible, a society must be either:

• registered under the Friendly Societies Act 1974,
• registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, or
• registered, or deemed to be registered, under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act (Northern Ireland) 1969.4

You should check the Mutuals Public Register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority.

What information must you record?

Please see What records do you need to keep? for details of the records you must keep for all donations. You will also need to record:

• the name of the donor
• the address, as shown on the relevant register5