Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Senedd elections

Your spending and donations report is known as a ‘return’. The agent must complete the return.

The return should include the following:

• what the spending was for – for example, leaflets or advertising
• the name and address of the supplier
• the amount or value
• details of when it was incurred and paid
• details of any unpaid or disputed payments1  
• details of any notional spending, and a declaration of its value2
• invoices or receipts for any payment of £20 or over3
• details of any personal expenses4

It is good practice to include any evidence you have of the value of notional spending when you submit your return.

The return must also include details of all donations over £500 and any authorised local campaigning spending.5 There is more information on the details that you need to report in spending for individual candidates and donations for individual candidates.

The candidate and agent must also sign a declaration that the return is complete and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief.6 It is your responsibility to fully and accurately report candidate spending.

It is a criminal offence to make a false declaration knowingly.7

Forms you will need:

Sample completed spending return

We have published a sample candidate spending return to illustrate how one might be completed. It is not intended to be used to fill in your expenses.

It contains comments highlighting links between different parts of the form - for example something reported as notional spending, which is also reported as a donation.