Skip to main content

Language selection

  • English
  • Cymraeg
Search
  • About us
    About us

    We’re the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. We work to promote public confidence in the democratic process and ensure its integrity.

    • Our vision and values
    • Our role and responsibilities
    • Our plans, priorities and spending
    • Our Commissioners and teams
    • How we make decisions
    • Working for us
    • Contact us
    • Procurement
    • Freedom of Information
  • Our guidance
    Our guidance

    We provide guidance about the process of running elections, standing as a candidate, and campaigning at an election.

    • Electoral Administrator
    • Candidate or agent
    • Political party
    • Campaigner
    • Other regulated individuals and organisations
    • Police election SPOC (Single Point of Contact)
  • Voting and elections
    Voting and elections

    Find out everything you need to know about voting and elections, including information about upcoming elections in your area.

    • Register to vote
    • Elections in your area
    • Ways to vote
    • Voter ID
    • Campaigning for your vote
    • Who can vote
    • Reporting electoral fraud
    • Ways to get involved in democracy
  • Research, reports and data
    Research, reports and data

    Part of our role includes conducting research and gathering data, and publishing reports and making recommendations about elections that take place across the UK.

    • Our reports and data on past elections and referendums
    • Electoral registration research
    • Public attitudes
    • Modernising voting: flexible voting feasibility studies
    • Young people’s views on politics and voting
    • Electoral fraud data
    • Referendum question research
  • Political registration and regulation
    Political registration and regulation

    We are responsible for registering political parties, publishing political finance data, and taking action if we have reason to suspect political finance law has been broken.

    • Political party registration
    • Financial reporting
    • Our enforcement work
    • Imprints
  • News and views
    News and views

    Get the latest news from us, and read media handbooks for elections. We also hold consultations, and publish our responses to consultations from others.

    • Media centre
    • Our priorities for reforming elections
    • Parliamentary briefings
    • Key correspondence
    • Our consultations
    • Our responses to consultations
  • Resources
    Resources

    Use our resources to share information about voting and democracy. Take a look at our resources for young people. Download lesson plans and activities for use in the classroom or youth groups. Share our assets and get the message out.

    • Resources for young people
    • Resources for educators
    • Democratic engagement resources

Enforcement

Share this page:
  • Share on X
  • Share on Facebook (opens in new window)
  • Share on LinkedIn (opens in new window)
Print this page

You are in the Privacy policy section

  • Privacy policy

On this page

  • Overview
  • What information we collect
  • Legal basis for collecting information
  • Publishing information
  • Sharing information
  • Your rights
First published: 20 June 2019 Last updated: 20 June 2019

Overview

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) requires us to prepare and publish guidance as to the use of our powers to investigate and sanction potential offences and contraventions of PPERA.

This enforcement policy fulfils that requirement. We are then required to have regard to this published guidance when exercising our enforcement functions. Please see our enforcement policy for more information.

What information we collect and why

In order to determine if an offence or contravention under PPERA has occurred, we may need to make enquiries of persons that we believe can provide relevant information. We will ask for documents, information and explanations on a voluntary basis or by using our investigatory powers, as appropriate. We may do this in writing or on the telephone, or by arranging meetings or statutory or voluntary interviews, depending on the circumstances.

Legal basis for collecting information

Our enforcement work forms part of our public task as set out in PPERA. Some of the information we collect to support this work is classified as special category personal data. We process this for reason of substantial public interest, which has a basis in UK law.

Publishing information

Where there is a public interest to do so, we may make a media statement when an investigation starts or if there is a change to its scope. Once an investigation is concluded we will publish the outcome on our website.

Sharing information

We may share information about our investigations with:

  • police and prosecutors in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
  • other regulators

Your rights

We may not be able to meet some rights, for example restriction and objection, because this processing is part of our statutory function. We will only process the data for the purposes as defined in PPERA. If additional processing is necessary to fulfil this statutory function, we shall take reasonable steps to inform you of this prior to the processing.

Related content

About us

Find out more about our role as a regulator, our work on elections and referendums, how we make decisions, and how our budget is set.

What we do in elections

Find out more about what we do in elections

Contact us

Find out how to contact us

Website accessibility

Find out about accessibility and our website

Was this article helpful?

  • Yes the article was helpful
  • No the article was not helpful

Footer Content

Quick links

  • Contact us
  • Media centre
  • Working for us
  • Learning resources
  • Freedom of information
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy policy
  • Publication scheme
  • Democratic engagement resources
  • Procurement

Follow us

  • Follow us onX.com
  • Follow us onInstagram
  • Follow us onFacebook
  • Follow us onLinkedIn
  • Follow us onBlog
© 2025 Electoral Commission

Modal Title