Privacy, Security and Copyright Statement

This website is hosted and maintained by Civica Election Services Limited, trading as Civica Election Services (CES), 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW and is provided in our role as a data processor. Our data protection officer can be contacted via [email protected].

The data controller, who has determined the purposes for which, and the manner in which, personal information (data) is collected and processed using this website, is the Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer for whom this online household response service project is being administered by Civica election services. Details of their data protection officer can be found on their own website or alternatively they can be contacted via the CES, Data Protection Officer ([email protected]).

How is information gathered on this site used?

The Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer collects the personal data you provide on this website for the purpose of maintaining the register of electors and preparing for and conducting elections, so ensuring your right to vote. You need to be registered to be able to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible. They have a duty to maintain a complete and accurate register throughout the year.

They will only collect the personal data they need from you, in order to do this.

What is the legal basis for processing this data?

The Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer has a legal obligation to comply with the Representation of the People Act 1983, the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 and the Representation of the People Regulations 2001. This ensures you are registered to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible. The law makes it compulsory to provide information to an electoral registration officer for inclusion in the full register when required to do so.

The Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer keep records about potential and registered electors, candidates and their agents, and staff employed at elections. These may be written down, or kept on a bespoke computer system.

The purpose of the site is to allow you to provide information about who lives at an address within the local authority electoral area.

What information is gathered via this site?

Information in this site is gathered in two ways: directly (for example through information that you enter) and indirectly (for example, through the site's technology).

The information collected directly on this website is:-

Examples of information collected indirectly are your internet (IP) address which is automatically collected and is placed in internet access logs, and the date and time of when you access the site.

Personal information may also be collected and processed to determine what is most effective about this site, to help CES identify ways to improve it. If data is used for any other purposes, these will be described to you at the point the personal information is collected.

This website may also use cookies, which are small text files stored on your computer or device when you visit a website, which allow the website to work properly and help keep it secure, and help us to understand how people are using the website so that it can be improved. For more information about the cookies used, please read Cookie Information

Who will your information be shared with?

The information you provide is held in electoral registers which are managed by the Electoral Registration Officer who, using information received, keeps two registers – the full electoral register and the open (edited) register.

The full register is published once a year and is updated every month and can only be supplied to the following people and organisations:

Your information will also be disclosed (shared) with the local authorities contracted printers.

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:

The open register contains the same information as the full register, but is not used for elections 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 register include 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.

How long will we keep this information?

The Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer are obliged to process your personal data in relation to maintaining the register of electors and preparing for and conducting elections. Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods. Upon publication of a full register, or an update to it, the details contained in the register are in the public domain and cannot be retrospectively removed.

Access to your details and other rights

You are entitled to request a copy of any information about you that your local authorities hold.

Any such requests must be made in writing.

If the information they hold about you is inaccurate you have a right to have this corrected and you have the right to request completion of incomplete data.

You also have the right to request that the local authority stop, or restrict the processing of your personal data, in certain circumstances. Such requests or objections should go to the data controller i.e. the local authority on whose behalf CES is providing this website. You may also contact the CES Data Protection Officer via [email protected], but please be aware that there may be a delay while your request is forwarded to the relevant data controller.

Finally, if you are not happy with the way the data controller responds to your request or objection, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/handling.

What security controls are in place?

The data controller and CES want you to be secure when visiting this site and are committed to maintaining your privacy when doing so. CES has physical security in its facilities to protect against the loss, theft, misuse, or alteration of information. There are also different layers of security implemented throughout the website platform, for example hardware and application firewalls; intrusion detection systems; and SSL encryption.

Copyright © 2004-2020 Civica Election Services Limited, trading as Civica Election Services. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise stated, the contents of this site including, but not limited to, the text and images contained herein and their arrangement are the property of CES. All trademarks used or referred to in this website are the property of their respective owners. Nothing contained in this site shall be construed as conferring by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to any copyright, patent, trademark or other proprietary interest of CES or any third party. This site and the content provided in this site, including, but not limited to, graphic images, audio, video, html code, buttons, and text, may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way, without the prior written consent of CES, except that you may download, display, and print one copy of the materials on any single computer solely for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you do not modify the material in any way and you keep intact all copyright, trademark, and other proprietary notices.

Cookie Information

This site uses Session Cookies, which simply allows secure navigation from one page to the next once you have logged in. The Session Cookie is a first party cookie (i.e. only placed by CES websites) and is temporary (i.e. it is deleted when your session ends). An example of our Session Cookie is ASP.NET_SessionId