EA Bulletin: 379 Scotland

We recently published updated spending return forms for use in the forthcoming 2026 Scottish Parliament elections. We are sharing links to the forms and a summary of key changes with you to help with signposting and queries you may receive in the coming months. 

We have made some changes to the forms from previous elections to make them simpler and more user-friendly. These reflect changes we trialled for the candidate return for English local elections in 2025.  

We recommend using the updated versions of these forms. The links below provide updated versions of the form in both XLSX and PDF. 

Overview of changes

• Most totals are now calculated automatically. Users just need to add each item of spending to the relevant worksheet. Subtotals will be automatically added to each sheet and to the summary page of the form.
• If a worksheet has no data to enter, users are asked to actively label it 'NIL' on the summary page of the form. This is to check that all sheets have been completed.  
• There are no separate explanatory notes. Instead, there is general guidance on the first page and then specific notes added on the relevant sheets, with links to guidance.
• The form will warn users if certain totals do not match, for example, if users have not selected a spending category for an item, or on the Scottish Parliament candidate return, an item has not been allocated to the “short campaign” or “long campaign” periods. 

Scottish Parliament constituency candidate return

• Spending limits for constituency candidates are calculated automatically once the type of constituency ('burgh' or 'county'), and 'Number of electors' is filled in.
• Returns for the long and short campaign have been combined into one document. Each item of spending must be allocated to either campaign, using a column in each worksheet. The totals for each campaign will be calculated automatically.
• Rather than a worksheet per category of spending, there is a worksheet per type of spending. For example, notional spending has its own worksheet. Spending categories are marked in a column in each worksheet. 

As set out in bulletin 378, we are now collecting orders for hard copies of polling station handbooks and quick guides for use at the May 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

If you haven’t already done so, the deadline for completing the online order form is Friday 16 January.

We will be printing to order so it is important that you provide us with your figures by the deadline. Please note that once you have submitted your order form, you will not be able to amend your order yourself. If you need to make any changes to your order, please contact [email protected].   

We will confirm the timing of the delivery of your order in a future bulletin. 

As we approach the May 2026 polls, we are collecting information from all Returning Officers about their plans for delivery.  

This information is necessary for us to clearly understand the arrangements in place for the delivery of polls and how Returning Officers plan to deliver the outcomes of the Performance Standards. Survey responses also help highlight where we can offer support and provide key statistics that can answer enquiries from the media and elsewhere.      

The surveys cover areas such as resourcing, accessibility, and planning for the May 2026 polls. The deadline for completing the surveys is Friday 23 January 2026.    

If you are an RO and have not received an email with a link to the survey or have any questions regarding the survey, please contact the Scotland team at [email protected].  

As part of our work to support the safety and security of everyone who wants to participate in elections, we have published a candidate contact details sheet in the nomination packs for the Scottish Parliament polls in May.  Although not mandatory, this form has been added to the nomination pack to enable candidates to complete and submit it, if they so wish, as part of their nomination papers.

Collecting these details will enable you, as Returning Officer (RO), to contact candidates quickly and consistently with information about the election and will also allow you to share these details with the police, to enable them to contact candidates directly with relevant and timely security information about the election.

There is a lawful basis for sharing the data with the police (article 6(1)(e) General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)) and in our view it’s necessary and proportionate to share this data to fulfil the RO’s statutory functions of safely and properly conducting an election.  Your Data Protection Officer will be able to advise on any specific implications to your own local data protection policies, and it will be important to update your main privacy statement accordingly.

We will be updating our guidance for ROs regarding working with the police at the elections and will notify you via the Bulletin once these updates have been published.

If you have any queries or need any further support, please contact the Scotland team at [email protected].