Combined Authority and Combined County Authority Returning Officer guidance for Combined Authority Mayoral elections

You are required to publish a statement of persons nominated for the combined authority area by no later than 4pm on the eighteenth working day before the poll.1

Contents of the statement of persons nominated

The statement of persons nominated must include the following information for all candidates who are validly nominated:

• name2  
• home address (or, if they have requested not to make their home address public, the name of the relevant area in which their home address is situated, or the country if their home address is situated outside the UK)3  
• description (if any)4  

It must also include those who no longer stand nominated and the reason why (i.e. those who have withdrawn or whose nomination you have rejected).5  

Your privacy notice should make clear that you are required under electoral legislation to publish a candidate’s name and address information in the statement of persons nominated. You can find more information in our data protection guidance.

Ordering of names on the statement of persons nominated

The names of the candidates on the statement must be listed in alphabetical order of their surname;6 this is also how they will appear on the ballot paper.7

If there are two or more candidates with the same surname, the alphabetical order of the other names will decide which candidate is listed first.8

Where a candidate has requested the use of a commonly used name on their nomination form, the commonly used name must be shown on the statement instead of the actual name.9

Where a candidate has requested the use of a commonly used surname, the candidate’s alphabetical position on the statement of persons nominated (and on the ballot paper) must be made by reference to their commonly used surname.10

If, however, you have rejected the use of any commonly used name as you think it is likely to mislead or confuse electors, or is obscene or offensive, the actual name must be published on the statement of persons nominated instead of the commonly used name.11

Considerations where a candidate has asked for their home address not to be published

If more than one validly nominated candidate has:

• asked for their home address not to be published, and 
• has provided the same relevant area of the UK, or otherwise from the same country 

You must consider if two or more of them have the same or so similar a name that they are likely to cause confusion.12

If you consider that this is the case, you may add such details from their home address or nomination form as you consider appropriate to reduce the likelihood of confusion.

You must consult the candidate(s) affected, if it is practicable to do so, before you make a decision on which details should be included on the statement of persons nominated. 

You must give notice in writing to the affected candidate(s) informing them of the additional information that will be published.13

You should provide each local RO with a copy of the statement as soon as it is published for local publication.

We have published a template statement of persons nominated that you can use for the combined authority mayoral election.

You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the statement of persons nominated. You can find more information about proof checking in our quality assurance guidance, and you can find a quality assurance checklist.