Guidance for Candidates and Agents at local government elections in England

Sometimes you might use something in your campaign that you did not have to spend money on, because it was provided to you as a benefit in kind, for free or at a discount.

Some examples of a benefit in kind could be:

• space in a hall for an event
• leaflets
• providing volunteers with food and transport

When you use something provided to you as a benefit in kind, the full value of what you used counts towards your spending limit and must be reported.1

This is called ‘notional spending’.

Benefits in kind transferred or provided for your use or benefit

Under the law there are two different terms used when assessing the value of these benefits in kind. 

Items or goods are transferred to the candidate when ownership is given to the candidate. Where items or goods are transferred to the candidate free of charge or at a non-commercial discount of more than 10%, these must be valued at its ‘market value’.2  The market value means the price that would reasonably be expected to be paid for the item or goods if it was on sale in the open market.3

In contrast, items, goods or services are provided for the candidate’s use or benefit if it is made available for the candidate’s use, but there is no change in ownership. Where an item, goods or services are instead provided for the candidate's use or benefit free of charge or at a non-commercial discount of more than 10%, the provision of these must be valued at a ‘commercial rate’.4  There is no set definition for commercial rate under the law, however this may be the average rates for the item, goods or service offered by commercial providers.

In this guidance we use the term ‘commercial value’ as an umbrella term for both market value and commercial rate.

What counts as notional spending?

There are five tests that must all be met in order for an item to count as notional spending

1. it is transferred to you or provided for your use or benefit
2. it is transferred or provided for free or at a non-commercial discount of more than 10%5
3. the difference in value between the commercial value of what is provided and what you pay is over £506
4. you make use of it in your campaign (or someone does on your behalf)7
5. it would have been election expenses if you had incurred the spending.8  See What activities count as candidate spending? for information about the categories of candidate spending

The following pages provide more information and examples detailing these tests.