EA Bulletin: 425 England

As detailed in bulletin 419, our statutory consultation on updated guidance to support making elections accessible ran from 4 August 2025 to 26 October. We received 72 responses from members of the public, electoral administrators, and a range of charity, civil society and third sector organisations.

We are grateful to everyone who provided us with feedback. We have used this to inform the further development of the guidance for Returning Officers (ROs) on assistance with voting for disabled electors which has now been published and will be used for the May 2026 polls in England, Scotland and Wales.  

You can find a summary of the feedback received and how we have changed the guidance as a result on our website.

In addition to the updated statutory guidance, we have also created a supporting resource that sets out examples of successful approaches taken by ROs to support disabled voters as well as links to other useful information.  This resource also includes documents which were specifically requested as part of the consultation: a template request for reasonable adjustments and a checklist of equipment to be provided in polling stations to support disabled electors.  

The supporting resource is a live document which we hope to update regularly so please do share your local examples with us so that we can include them and help share good practice across the electoral community. As part of this, we will continue to work together with the AEA, MHCLG and the Scottish and Welsh Governments to share learning and collectively provide support for administrators and voters alike.

If you have any queries, or have any additional examples you would like to share with us, please contact your local Commission team at [email protected].