The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2013

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order contains transitional provisions relating to the introduction of individual elector registration in Great Britain. They are made under Schedule 5 to the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013. The new system is expected to begin on 10th June 2014 in England and Wales and on 19th September 2014 in Scotland.

Article 5 shortens the period immediately before commencement in which applications for registration in Scotland may be determined.

Article 6 requires each electoral registration officer (ERO) in Great Britain to check whether each person with an entry on an electoral register (with some exceptions) is entitled to remain registered. Article 7 makes provision about the information an ERO must verify for the purpose of confirming entitlement to remain registered and the process by which verification must take place. It provides for the disclosure of the information and its comparison with data held by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and specifies the evidence which supports a person’s entitlement to remain registered. Article 9 makes it a criminal offence to disclose the information except for the purposes of confirmation or for the purpose of any civil or criminal proceedings.

Article 11 requires an ERO to give notice in writing of a person’s entitlement to remain registered.

Article 12 empowers EROs to use the verification procedure in article 7 in relation to people whose entries on the register were carried forward at the conclusion of the final old canvass.

Article 13 prescribes the period within which invitations to register must be given to existing electors in 2014. Articles 14 and 15 provide for the first new canvass in Scotland to be delayed and, as a consequence, for the revised version of the register in Scotland to be published by 28th February 2015. Article 16 prescribes the period within which canvass forms must be given for the second new canvass throughout Great Britain.

Article 17 makes provision about invitations to register in relation to existing electors which EROs are required to give. Article 18 requires the ERO to send a second invitation if no response is received to the first invitation and a third invitation if no response is received to the second invitation. It also provides for visits to an address.

Article 19 makes provision about requirements to make an application for registration by a specified date, including the manner and circumstances in which an ERO may and may not give a person notice of such a requirement, the form of notice and the cancellation of a notice.

Articles 20 to 23 make provision as to civil penalties. Article 20 sets the level of the civil penalty. It requires an ERO to give a person notice in writing of the civil penalty and prescribes the form and content of that notice. Articles 21 to 23 provide for payment, enforcement and cancellation of a civil penalty and for reviews of and appeals against a civil penalty.

Article 24 provides for the manner in which an ERO must notify certain absent voters that their entry has been removed from the register.

Article 25 enables EROs to find out whether a proxy for an absent voter is registered in another officer’s registers.

An overall impact assessment in relation to the individual electoral registration scheme is available on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/IER-Impact.