If you purchase items or services before the regulated period, and use these during the regulated period, the spending will count as regulated campaign activity.
Use of items
Re-using items paid for and used at a previous election
Non-party campaigners may re-use items from previous elections. Spending on items that were paid for and used at a previous election and were reported in full in a previous spending return do not need to be reported again in the spending return for the same non-party campaigner at the current election if they are used again without alteration. All new costs relating to their re-use, including storage, cleaning, or the cost of altering the items must appear in the spending return.
Apportionment of items for subsequent elections
Items that have been paid for and used during a regulated period cannot be apportioned or reported solely on the basis that they will be used again during a subsequent regulated period. The full value of the spending must be reported in the spending return.
Unused items
Items that have been paid for by a non-party campaigner, but have not been used during the regulated period, do not need to be reported in the spending return.
If those items are then used at a future election, the spending would need to be reported in relation to that election, as an item paid for prior to the commencement of the regulated period.
Items paid for prior to the commencement of the regulated period
Where spending was incurred prior to the start of a regulated period on items that are used during the regulated period, the spending on those items must be reported in the spending return.1
Example
Example
If you hire an agency to create posters and digital adverts for an upcoming UK Parliamentary general election (UKPGE), which you then publish during the regulated period, the associated costs of this service must be reported.