Once you have received the Speaker’s notice you must designate the day from which the petition signing period will begin. This must be the 10th working day after the day on which the Speaker’s notice is received (or the next working day if that day is not practicable).1
You must ensure that the petition is available for signing in each place on each working day throughout the signing period between 9am and 5pm.2
In addition, you must make the petition available for signing at other times,3
for example in the evening or at a weekend. These additional hours must be specified on the notice of petition.4
These additional hours can also vary for different signing places.5
There are a number of issues that you should consider when determining these details, which include:
the scope of the extended hours for example
one day a week with early opening such as at 7am,
one day a week with later closure such as at 8pm
weekend opening such as Saturday mornings
the availability of staff
the accessibility of buildings outside the set opening hours
You should base your decision on what is practicable and reasonable for the constituency.