Guidance for Police Area Returning Officers administering a Police and Crime Commissioner election in England and Wales

You must take such steps as you think appropriate to encourage the participation of electors in the election, and in carrying out such activity you must have regard to any guidance issued by the Electoral Commission.1  

Part of this engagement activity should include how the LROs in your area will communicate the voting process and support available for disabled voters in their areas. This should be both directly with local disability organisations and more general signposting to accessible communications, such as providing online versions of documents that are easy-read, compatible with screen-readers, or available in large print.

As PARO you should actively take the lead in promoting and sharing good practice and in co-ordinating awareness activity across the police area.

Your planning should take into account the need to work with LROs in your police area to ensure that local and police-area wide awareness activity is co-ordinated and that clear, consistent messages are communicated effectively to electors.

When preparing the public awareness strategy for your police area, you should document:

• the identification of your target audience
• the objectives and success measures of the activity
• any risks – and mitigation of those risks
• resources – financial and staffing
• plans for collaborative working with relevant local partners, including experts in the communications department of your local authority 

Implementation of your strategy should be included within your overall project plan.

You should establish a communications network involving a representative of each LRO in your police area to share information and co-ordinate public awareness activity across the police area. This network can also be used to ensure that any communication relating to specific aspects of the election, such as the verification and counting of votes or the declaration of result, or issues that arise, for example allegations of electoral fraud, are dealt with effectively and consistently across the police area.