Non-party campaigners: Senedd elections
Updates to our guidance
| Date of update | Description of change |
|---|---|
| August 2025 | Since the last Senedd election, the guidance has been rewritten into HTML. As part of the rewrite, we made the following notable updates:
There are also updates to reflect legislative changes, including:
|
About this guidance
Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA), there are spending, donations and reporting laws that apply depending on how much you spend at a Senedd election, starting at spending above £700. The law sets out how much particular individuals and organisations can spend, and the registration and reporting requirements that will apply.
We call individuals and organisations who are thinking of campaigning in the run-up to an election but are not standing as a political party or candidate ‘non-party campaigners’. Political parties, candidates and non-party campaigners are vital to a healthy democracy. We encourage active participation by campaigners and aim to support campaigners with the law as they participate.
Campaigners are entitled to carry out regulated campaign activities. However, where there is spending on regulated campaigning, there are laws that must be followed to ensure that this is transparent. This includes adding details to election material to show who is responsible for its publication (known as ‘imprints’), complying with limits on spending, requirements around donations, and reporting after the election.
This guidance provides detail on these laws and how they will apply to you if you are spending money on regulated campaign activities.
If you are also campaigning at the Scottish Parliament election in 2026, please be aware that similar laws apply in Scotland. Please see our non-party guidance for Scottish Parliament elections.
Background
The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024 introduced a new duty on the Electoral Commission to produce a Code of Practice on the laws relating to non-party campaigner spending. The Code is different from other types of guidance that we produce because it has been approved by the Senedd. The Code applies to elections to the Senedd.
The Commission must have regard to the Code when exercising its functions under Part 6 of PPERA. This part sets out the laws for non-party campaigners at elections. It is a statutory defence for a non-party campaigner to show that they complied with the Code in determining whether their campaign activity was regulated.
This non-statutory guidance for non-party campaigners at Senedd elections is based on the wording of the Code and provides additional information, advice and examples to help you understand the law. We have also provided case studies of real campaigns to guide you in determining what limits or reporting apply to your campaign activities.
This should support you to understand your obligations and campaign with confidence.
Key terms are explained throughout and provided in an alphabetical list at the end of the guidance.
Who is this guidance for?
This guidance is for individuals and organisations who are thinking of campaigning in the run-up to a Senedd election but are not standing as a political party or candidate.
Terms and expressions we use
In this guidance we use ‘must’ when we refer to a specific legal requirement. We use ‘should’ for items we consider to be minimum good practice, but which are not legal requirements.
We use ‘you’ when we refer to the individual or organisation spending or intending to spend money on campaigning ahead of an election.