An election agent is the person responsible for the proper management of the candidate's election campaign and, in particular, for its financial management. Every candidate must have an election agent.
The notice of the appointment of an election agent must be delivered to you by the latest time for delivery of notices of withdrawal, which is 4pm on the nineteenth working day before the poll.
We have produced a form for the notification of the appointment of election agents as part of the set of nomination papers for the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner or a Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
You should consider communicating information on the election processes, the code of conduct and standard points of behaviour to the election agent at the earliest opportunity. In particular any information you provide should provide links to and highly the new postal vote handling and the new undue influence and intimidation rules.
Can a candidate be their own agent?
A candidate may appoint themselves as their election agent.
If no agent is appointed by the deadline for withdrawals, the candidate automatically becomes their own election agent.
A candidate also becomes their own agent if:
they revoke their agent's appointment, or
their agent dies, and a replacement is not appointed on the day of the death or on the follow day1
Election agent’s office address
The election agent must have an office address to which all claims, notices, legal process and other documents may be sent.2
This must be a physical address – PO boxes or similar mailboxes cannot be used.
The location of the office must be within the police area.
The election agent’s office address will often be the same as their home address. Alternatively, it might be the local political party office or an office especially set up for the election.
If the candidate gives you written notification of their appointment as their own election agent, they must give an office address within the police area.
Where a candidate acts as their own election agent as a result of not having appointed anybody else, the office address is deemed to be the address given on the statement of persons nominated or, i.e. the one provided on the home address form. If the address is outside the police area, the office address is deemed to be the address of the person named in the statement of persons nominated as proposer.3
This is the case even where a candidate has chosen to withhold their home address from the statement of persons nominated and ballot paper. You should make this clear to candidates.