We have updated our guidance for Scottish council elections to reflect the changes made by the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025 which come into force today, 1 October 2025.
The updated guidance reflects the new provisions which:
Enable an election agent to withhold their home address from publication on public notices and provide a correspondence address in its place.
Expand the definition of the relevant area to include the ward a candidate lives in, when choosing to withhold their home address.
The updated guidance is contained in Part C of our guidance for Returning Officers and in Parts 2a and 2b of our guidance for candidates and agents. We have also updated several forms in the nomination form pack to reflect the new provisions.
As these changes come into effect today, Returning Officers should ensure that anyone submitting a nomination on or after 1 October 2025 are aware of these provisions, so that they can make use of them should they wish to do so.
If you hold local copies of the nomination form pack please ensure you are using the updated versions.
The nomination form already reflects an earlier change under the Act, which came into force on 1 August 2025, giving candidacy rights to all foreign nationals with limited leave to remain and removal of the wording “schedule 6A nationals”.
If you have any queries, please do get in touch with our Scotland team at [email protected].