The following pages provide information and guidance for candidates and election agents on expenditure and donation controls, as well as access to the forms to be submitted for candidates election expenses returns. The controls on these pages apply to all UK elections excluding Scottish and Northern Irish local government elections.
Please select one of the following:
- find general guidance on controls on candidates election expenses
- find general guidance on controls on donations to candidates
- download forms and guidance for candidates submitting election expenses returns
Candidates are subject to controls on the election expenses that they can incur in the period before an election, and are regulated by the Representation of the People Act 1983 (RPA). The restrictions on incurring election expenses at an election set out in the RPA are based on controls that have governed candidates' election expenses since the nineteenth century and predate the separate limits controlling expenditure by political parties introduced by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA). However, the PPERA introduced amendments to the controls on candidates' election expenses and donations, in order to bring the treatment of candidates' expenses/donations and party expenditure/donations into line.
