Running electoral registration - Scotland

What action can I take if I am unsure about the information in an application?

You may have reason to doubt the authenticity of the information provided in the application or of any documentary evidence supplied in support of the application.
 
You do not have to take an application at face value. 

You can: 

• ask the applicant for additional evidence if you consider it necessary to verify their identity or make a decision on an applicant’s entitlement to register1  
• take an application to a hearing

Asking an applicant for additional evidence

Types of evidence you could request include:

• to verify identity:2  
  • documents such as a passport, identity card, photocard driving licence
  • further examples are included in our guidance on verification, exceptions and attestation processes
• to verify age and nationality:3  
  • birth certificate
  • certificate of naturalisation
  • citizenship certificate
  • statutory declaration
• to verify residence:4  
  • evidence to satisfy you that the applicant is resident at the qualifying address on the relevant date

If you doubt whether an applicant or elector is legally resident, you should request checks of a person’s immigration status against Home Office records.

The fact that you may request checks of a person’s immigration status against government records is included on the registration application form.

Further guidance on this process and contact details are available by contacting the Home Office: [email protected]. You will be asked to complete a template which will be provided – please complete and return the section below the heading ‘Subject 1’ to the same email address. The Home Office have requested one template per subject per email, and that ER be added to the subject header for each email to ensure that it goes into the correct folder for a response. The Home Office will respond within five working days unless a file is required, in which case it will respond within ten working days. 

Special categories of data

Applicants must provide their nationality or nationalities, or, if they are not able to, the reason they are not able to do so. Under data protection legislation, nationality data is classed as a special category of personal data because it may reveal an individual’s racial or ethnic origin.
 
In order to process nationality data, you must have in place a policy document to allow you as data controller to process special categories of personal data. This document will need to reflect your local processing procedures for complying with data protection principals and your policies for the retention and erasure of personal data. This must be kept until six months after processing ceases. This policy document should be reviewed and updated at appropriate times and be made available to the ICO on request.
 
Our data protection guidance for EROs and ROs contains further information on special categories of data and the need for a policy document.

Taking an application to a hearing

If you are unable to resolve these doubts through the process of verifying the identity of the applicant or any further correspondence with the potential elector, including through the supply of any evidence obtained under your power to require evidence of age and nationality, you should proceed to a hearing.

Hearings may also be required by a person who objects to an application or by an applicant who receives notice that their application is to be disallowed.5  

Further information on the process can be found in our guidance on hearings.