Guidance for Candidates and Agents at local government elections in England

A donation is money, goods, property or services which are given:

• towards your candidate spending
• without charge or on non-commercial terms1

and have a value of over £50.2  Anything with a value of £50 or less does not count as a donation.

The donation controls for candidates apply once you are officially a candidate.3

Some examples of donations include:

• a gift of money or other property
• payment of an invoice for candidate spending that would otherwise be paid by you
• a loan that is not on commercial terms
• sponsorship of an event or publication
• free or specially discounted use of property or facilities, for example the free use of an office

Donations of £50 or less

Donations of £50 or less are outside the scope of electoral law and you do not need to record or report them.

However, it is an offence to attempt to evade the controls on donations. You must be alert to situations where it appears that a donor is attempting to evade permissibility restrictions.4  For example, if a number of donations of £49 are made from the same source in similar circumstances in an attempt to evade the permissibility rules.

If you think this may be happening, you should contact us for advice.