Electoral Registration and Elections - Service
Standards
Read on, or download our service standards for Electoral Registration &
Elections.
Each year, the council carries out an annual canvas of every
residence in West Lancashire to identify the people who are
eligible to vote. This process is known as the electoral
registration annual canvas and is important for two reasons:
- People not on the register are unable to vote in local,
parliamentary or European elections.
- Addresses are used for credit checks e.g. loans, hire purchase
and mortgages.
The Electoral Services Office is responsible for preparing the
register of electors, organising parliamentary, European, county,
district and parish elections for the West Lancashire District and
reviewing/implementing any boundary changes.
What we do
- The Electoral Services Section is part of the Legal and Member
Services Division. We deal with 47,000 registration forms (called
Form As) during September/October each year. These are used to
compile the registers of electors. Typically, we deal with around
550 addition and deletion forms each month. The electorate for West
Lancashire is approximately 87,000.
- We manage parliamentary, European, county, district and parish
elections for the district in accordance with statutory
legislation. Over 13,000 absent voters' applications have been
processed for future elections.
- We review/implement any boundary changes within the
district.
Fees and payment
Fees for the sale of register of electors (Regulation 110(2) of the
Representation of the People Act 2000) are as follows:
- Data format - £20 plus £1.50 per thousand entries
- Printed format - £10 plus £5 per thousand entries
- Marked copies of the register - £5 plus 20p per copy
Our fees are charged by invoice - paid through our sundry
debtors system.
Our service promise
- If you move home after we have completed our annual canvas, you
can re-register with us at your new address. We will send an
application form to your new address for this purpose.
- We update the register of electors on the first of the month
following a mid-month deadline for receipt of applications. Please
note in the 'run up' to an election you will only be able to vote
if your name has been added to the register of electors 11 working
days before election day.
- Before any election, and if you are on the register, we will
post you a poll card. The card will have an electoral number,
details of the hours of poll, and the location of your polling
station. This is for information only. If for any reason you do not
receive an official poll card, this does not mean that you cannot
vote. Poll cards may not be issued for some parish council
elections.
- On Election Day, polling stations are open between 7.00am and
10.00pm for all elections. Experienced and trained officers, who
will answer any queries or help you with any special needs, staff
our polling stations.
- We consider all our customers as important and aim to give you
the best service we can. We also aim to treat you politely and
fairly, and give you the service that you want, making every effort
to review and improve our service.
How you can help us
- Please ensure that when you contact us, you have as many
details about your enquiry as possible so that our staff can help
you.
- Please complete your electoral registration form promptly and
correctly and return to us in the timescale required to ensure that
it is processed and placed onto the electoral register.
- You can contact us to check if you are on the register. If for
any reason your name has been missed off the register or the
details we have are wrong, please write to the Electoral Services
Section (address overleaf), giving us details of any corrections
that need to be made. Forms should be received by the middle of the
month to be effective by the 1st of the following month.
- If you wish to vote by post you must apply by 5.00pm 11 working
days* before the day of election (we can send you an application
form). In this instance you do not have to state why you want a
postal vote.
- If you want to appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf, you must
specify on the application form why you cannot vote in person. You
must apply to appoint a proxy by 5.00pm six working days* before
the day of election.
- If you want to change an existing postal vote or proxy
appointment, you must contact us in writing before 5.00pm eleven
working days* before the day of elections as set out in the
election timetable.
- We are happy to assist all our customers with special needs.
Please mention this to our staff when you contact the council. We
can provide some of our forms in large print or Braille. We also
have audiotapes on how to apply for a postal vote.
*Working days referred to within the election timetable exclude
Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Good Friday, a Bank
Holiday or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or
mourning.
Our general standards
We have a number of general standards, which apply to all services
across West Lancashire District Council. You may find these useful
to note:
- We aim to answer letters and emails within 10 working
days.
- If you request a fuller reply, or the matter requires detailed
investigation, we will send you an acknowledgment within 10 days,
which will set out what action is being taken and when you are
likely to receive a detailed response.
- We aim to answer your phone calls within 10 seconds.
- You can make an appointment to see a manager or speak to staff
in confidence.
- At all times our staff will show courtesy, respect and
sensitivity.
- To view our general standards in full see Corporate
Standards
Give us your feedback
We want to provide services that delight our customers and which
are second to none. We monitor the standards we set but also value
feedback from our customers and residents on how we can further
improve services. If you have any comments, compliments or
complaints, there is a form on which you can make any suggestions.
These are available by downloading a copy from our website or by
visiting our main offices. Alternatively you can call Customer
Services and one of our advisers will complete a form with you over
the phone.
If you do make a complaint about our services, please note that we
have a formal process for dealing with these. These should
initially be addressed to the service manager whose details are
given below. Our promise to you is that any complaint will be
answered within 10 working days.
Contact us
Click: Elections
Email: elections.office@westlancsdc.gov.uk
Call: 01695 577177 or 01695 585014
Come in: 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk or the CSP at the Concourse,
Skelmersdale
Our offices are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Thursday and
9.00am to 4.45pm on Friday.
Our Customer Contact Centre is open from 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to
Friday for telephone calls.
We can provide this information upon request on audiotape, in large
print, in Braille and in other languages.