Electoral Services privacy notice

• To carry out specific functions for which we are responsible.
• To provide you with a statutory service relating to electoral registration and elections.
• Keep records about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates and their agents, staff employed at an election and the people we need to pay.

• Representation of the People Act 1983.
• Article 17.3(d), Article 89(1), Article 6.1(b) and (e) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

• Basic details about you, for example, name, address, date of birth and nationality.
• Unique identifiers (such as your National Insurance number).
• Scanned application forms and dates of any letters or correspondence.
• Notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us about.
• Details and records about the service you have received.
• Your previous or any redirected address.
• The other occupants in your home.
• If you are over 76 or under 16/17.
• Whether you have chosen to opt out of the Open version of the Register.

• Your records are used to help ensure that we provide you with the service that you need. We will, based on your nationality, include your name on the electoral register so that you are able to vote by your chosen method.
• The electoral register is a public document which can be viewed by appointment only under strict control.
• It is important that your records are accurate and up-to-date as they will help make sure that our staff are able to provide you with the help, advice, or support you need.
• If you do not provide us with this information, then eligible citizens will not be able to vote and you may be breaking the law.

Occasions when your information needs to be disclosed (shared) include:

• To contracted printers to print your poll cards, postal packs, and other electoral material.
• To registered political parties, elected representatives, candidates, agents and other permitted participants who are able to use it for Electoral purposes only.
• Credit Reference Agencies, the British Library, UK Statistics Authority, the Electoral Commission and other statutory recipients of the Electoral Register.
• Details of whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) to those who are entitled in law to receive it after an election.
• Where the health and safety of others is at risk.
• When the law requires us to pass on information under special circumstances.
• Crime prevention or the detection of fraud as part of the National Fraud Initiative.

Our partner organisations:

• The Department for Work and Pensions. To verify your identity, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service.
  • The Cabinet Office will inform the old local authority of people who have moved area. You canfind out more information about this online (opens new window).
• Your data will be processed byCivica Election Services (CES) (opens new window) to produce poll cards, postal packs, and other election and electoral registration material.
  • Civica's address: Southbank Central (8th Floor), 30 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9LQ 

Anyone who receives information from us has a legal duty to keep it confidential. We are required by law to report certain information to appropriate authorities, for example:

• Where a formal court order has been issued.
• To law enforcement agencies for the prevention or detection of a crime.
• To the Jury Central Summoning Bureau, indicating those persons who are aged 76 or over and are no longer eligible for jury service.

• Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods.
• If your details are in the open register, your name and address can be sold to third parties who may use it for any purpose.
  • You can opt out of this version at any time and are given the opportunity to do so annually as part of the canvass of all households.

Can I see my records?

• The Data Protection Act 2018 (GDPR) allows you to find out what information is held about you, both on paper and computer records. This is known as 'right of subject access' and applies to your Electoral Services records along with all other personal records.
• Contact the Data Protection Officer if you wish to see a copy of your records. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records, free of charge, within a month.
• In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited. For example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person