Running electoral registration - Wales

Potential data sources for local data matching

Potential data sources for local data matching

You can require any person to supply you with information required for the purpose of your duties in maintaining the register of electors.1 You are therefore entitled to request data sets from organisations where you deem it necessary for the purpose of verifying the identity of an applicant.
 
There are a wide variety of data sources that may be available including, but not limited to: 

  • council tax data
  • adult social care data 
  • local authority billing and payments data 
  • parking permits data
  • school admission data
  • blue badge data 
  • customer service records 
  • payroll data 
  • registrar data on births, deaths and marriages

Each data source must be assessed against the criteria found in our guidance on evaluating local data sources before being used for local data matching.
 
Where a data set has limited coverage you may wish to consider using that data set alongside another to provide greater coverage across your registration area. Data sets with limited coverage may have additional value where they match with groups identified by you as part of your engagement strategy. 

As ERO, you are legally entitled to access local data sets and to inspect and make copies of records kept in whatever form by:2  

 

  • any registrar of births, deaths and marriages, including any superintendent
  • any person, including a company or organisation, providing services to, or authorised to exercise any function of the council; this includes those providing outsourced services under any finance agreement. For example, a private contractor appointed to collect council tax on behalf of the local authority

 

Legislation gives express permission for local authorities which have not directly appointed an ERO, to provide data to this ERO, but requires a written agreement between the ERO and the authority to be in place before any transfer of data occurs.3 The written agreement should regulate the processing of information including its transfer, storage, destruction, and security. 

While you have a legal entitlement to your local authority’s data, you should conduct any data matching activities in accordance with current data protection legislation, relevant guidance and good practice available on the Information Commissioner’s Office website

Last updated: 26 May 2021