Who will your information be shared with?
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 of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers
You can find more information about this here
The information you provide is also held in electoral registers which are managed by electoral registration officers who, using information received, keep two registers – the full electoral register and the open register.
The full electoral register is published once a year and is updated every month and can only be supplied to the following people and organisations:
- British Library
- UK Statistics Authority
- Electoral Commission
- Boundary Commission for England
- Jury Summoning Bureau
- Elected Representatives (MP, MEPs, Local Councillors)
- Police and Crime Commissioner
- Candidates standing for elections
- Local and National political parties
- The Council
- Parish Councils
- Police Forces, National Crime Agency
- Public Library or local authority archive services
- Government departments or bodies
- Credit Reference Agencies
- National Fraud Initiative
- Electoral Registration and Returning Officers.
We also have to disclose (share) your information with our Software providers and contracted printers to print your poll cards, postal vote packs and other electoral material.
It is a crime for anyone who has a copy of the full register to pass information from this register on to others, if they do not have a lawful reason to see it.
Anyone can inspect the full electoral register.
- Inspection of the register will be under supervision
- They can take extracts from the register, but only by hand written notes
- Information must not be used for direct marketing purposes, in accordance with data protection legislation, unless it has been published in the open version
- Anyone who fails to observe these conditions is committing a criminal offence. The penalty is an unlimited fine and/or up to six months in prison.
The open register contains the same information as the full register, but is not used for election or referendums. It is updated and published every month and can be sold to any person, organisation or company for a wide range of purposes. It is used by businesses and charities for checking names and address details. Users of the open register included direct marketing firms and also online directory firms.
You can choose whether or not to have your personal details included in the open version of the register; however, they will be included unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the open register will not affect your right to vote.
Canvass reform
The aim of the reform is to make the process simpler and clearer for citizens and reduce costs whilst safeguarding the completeness and accuracy of the register. The Electoral Registration Officer is required to send your data (name, previous name, address and if held, date of birth and email) to the Cabinet Office and Department of Work and Pensions as part of the annual mandatory national data step, alongside a discretionary local data matching step, at the start of each canvass.
