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

We recognise the importance of local knowledge and experience and that there is no ‘one size fits all approach’ which can be applied to, or even within, each police area. Every police area has its own set of circumstances which will influence your decisions on how best to ensure a consistent, high-quality experience for those voting and standing for election across the police area.

The PCC election is one election delivered across a number of local authority areas. You should therefore consider at an early stage how you will ensure that the election is administered to a consistent standard across the police area, so that voters receive a consistently high quality of service regardless of where they live and the election produces a result that is accepted. This should be reflected in the objectives and success measures set out in your project plan and should include whether you have issued (or intend to issue) guidance, and whether and how you have used (or intend to use) your power to give directions.

There will be aspects of the election process where you will particularly want to ensure that there is consistency, most notably in the areas that impact on the voters’ experience – for example, how LROs will meet their duty to ensure polling station voting is accessible to all voters, the issue of poll cards and postal votes, and the staffing of polling stations – as well as in respect of the verification and counting of votes. 

There are various tools available to you to ensure consistency. It is for you to decide, based on factors such as your knowledge, experience and relationships with the LROs in your area, and taking into consideration issues of scope and scale, how to best achieve the objectives set out in your election plan. Your power to give directions is one tool available for you to use, but whether to give directions, on what matters, and to whom is at your discretion.  

You may also choose to issue written guidance to LROs on particular aspects of the election. In order to effectively manage the result collation process, you should put in place a protocol for the transmission and receipt of local verification and count totals. In addition, you should arrange training and/or briefing sessions for LROs and their staff on such protocols.

Where the PCC election is combined with the poll at another election the power of direction will not always be capable of being used for some aspects of the process depending on which RO is responsible for them in practice. Therefore, other tools to ensure consistency – such as co-operation and consultation – will be crucial.

Your project plan should reflect how and when you will reach a decision on your approach to managing and co-ordinating the poll in your police area and how you will implement this approach in practice. It should also include a communications strategy to support this work.

As a minimum, you should have in place processes for monitoring the delivery of the PCC elections across the whole of the police area, including compliance with any directions and/or guidance you have given. You should think about how you will support other LROs and electoral administrators in the area in managing the polls and in dealing with any emerging issues.

The Commission’s teams across England and Wales will be available to support you throughout the PCC election. Further detail on our plans for support and monitoring at any scheduled elections will be included in a future bulletin.