Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

You must publish a statement of persons nominated for each ward by no later than 4pm, eighteen working days 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:

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

It must also include those who no longer stand nominated and the reason why (i.e. those who have withdrawn or whose nomination you have rejected).2

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

Ordering of names on the statement of persons nominated

The names of the candidates must be listed in alphabetical order of their surname.3 This is also how they will appear on the ballot paper.4

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.5

If a person has requested the use of a commonly used name on their nomination paper, the commonly used name must be shown on the statement instead of the actual name.6

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.

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, by law, be published on the statement of persons nominated instead of the commonly used name.

Considerations where a candidate has asked for their home address not to be published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• asked for their home address not to be published, and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 the same country) on their home address form as another candidate(s)

you must consider whether two or more of them have the same name or a name so similar that it is likely to cause confusion.7

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.8
  
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 nominated9 .

You must give notice in writing to the affected candidate(s) informing them of the additional information that will be published.10

We have published a template of the statement of persons nominated here.

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 we have published a quality assurance checklist.  

You should give a copy of the statement of persons nominated to all candidates and election agents as soon as practicable after its publication.