Election information for potential candidates

UK Parliamentary election 2024

On Thursday 4 July 2024 the UK Parliamentary election will be held.

Worcester City Council's Returning Officer is responsible for the election of one MP for the Worcester constituency.

If you intend to stand as a candidate for Worcester, or act as an election agent for a candidate, please contact us to provide your email address so we can send you the invitation to the candidate and agent briefing, and other election information.

Voter ID

For all elections in England, all electors voting in-person at a polling station will need to show photo identification before they are given a ballot paper.

You can read the information we have provided for electors on our 2024 Elections page and more information is available at the Electoral Commission website.

Please ensure that you have carefully read all the information on Voter ID before speaking to electors about the issue. If you are not sure about anything you can ask us or direct the elector to contact us.

Posters and leaflets about Voter ID are being distributed to community hubs throughout the city. If you are aware of a useful location that has not been sent these materials, please let us know. We have also printed a limited number of leaflets for candidates to distribute to electors, these will be available from the Electoral Services office.

If you are speaking to an elector about them applying for a Voter Authority Certificate (VAC), please be aware that the Electoral Commission recommends that candidates or campaigners do not assist with these applications. This is due to the personal information an elector would need to share with you for you to assist them. The Guildhall customer services team can assist with any elector wishing to apply for a VAC.

Postal and Proxy voting

If you are speaking to an elector about applying for a postal or proxy vote, please explain all the voting options and discuss the implications of voting by post. Campaigners can encourage electors to apply for an absent vote but must inform them of all their options.

Postal votes, and certain types of proxy vote, can be applied for online:

• Apply for a postal vote
• Apply for a proxy vote

Paper forms can also be downloaded from these websites or are available on request from the Electoral Services Office.

Electors should be encouraged to send any paper application forms directly to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), if a campaigner does receive an application form you must send it to the ERO within two working days.

Candidates should note the changes to the handling of postal votes and postal vote secrecy regulations created by the Elections Act 2022 and coming into effect for this election. Please see the Electoral Commission guidance, or our Worcester guide for candidates and agents, for more details.

Important dates

Guidance

Please read the following guidance:

1. The Electoral Commission guidance for Parliamentary candidates.
2. Guidance on the conduct of Tellers

Restrictions on campaigning

Election materials must not be displayed on Council property or street furniture. If you see any election material displayed on Council property or street furniture, please alert the Electoral Services team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Councillors must not use Worcester City Council’s headed paper, logo, Coat of Arms, and “worcester.gov.uk” or “worcestercity.net” email addresses for election purposes, and they should not include these Council email addresses in any election materials.

Candidates can use schools and community premises free-of-charge for election purposes, with certain restrictions. Candidates can use these within the constituency where they are standing at reasonable times (or an adjacent area if no other venues are available). The candidate must use the room only for the purpose of holding public meetings to promote or procure votes in the forthcoming election. This is separate from sitting Councillors using such facilities for surgeries under existing arrangements.

Candidate forms

All candidate forms are available for download from the Electoral Commission website.

Nomination forms have changed since the last Parliamentary election, so please download and use the current version from the Electoral Commission website.

Polling and Counting Agent appointment forms can also be found on the same website.

Candidate spending return forms can also be found on the same website.

View the pdf Register and Absent Voter List request forms (124 KB) .

The Returning Officer can print these forms for you to collect from the Elections office upon request.

Further information

Please contact the elections team if you have any further queries.

You can also find more information about being a councillor on the Local Government Association website