EA Bulletin: 400 Wales

We recently published updated spending return forms for the 2026 Senedd election. 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 trialed successfully for the candidate return for English local elections in 2025.  

We recommend using the updated versions of these forms. The table below provides 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.  

As set out in bulletin 399, we are now collecting orders for hard copies of polling station handbooks and quick guides for use at the May 2026 Senedd election.

If you haven’t already done so, the deadline for completing the online order form is this Friday 16 January. If you are working with other local authorities to deliver the election, we would recommend that you speak to each other about this, but that each authority submits their own order.

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 hard copies in a future bulletin.

As we approach the May 2026 polls, we are collecting information from all local authorities who have polls.  

This information is necessary for us to clearly understand the arrangements in place for the delivery of polls and how local authorities plan to deliver the outcomes of the RO 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 survey covers areas such as resourcing, accessibility, and planning for the May 2026 polls. The deadline for completing the survey 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 surveys, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

As part of our work to support the safety and security of everyone who wants to participate in elections, we have created a template candidate contact details sheet for the Senedd elections in May, which you can supply with nomination packs to candidates, agents and nominating officers.  Although not mandatory, these forms have been published 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.

Additionally, the details collected on the form can also be shared with the EMB. These details will be necessary to support candidates’ submission of an election address for inclusion on the Welsh Elections Information Platform.

You will need to work with your local Data Protection Officer (DPO) to ensure that you add your own  privacy notice on the forms before this is provided to candidates, agents and nominating officers for completion. You should also work with your DPO to make sure that your main privacy statement is updated to reflect your local arrangements.

Finally, 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 Wales team on [email protected].