Election Expenses Toolkit
If you stand as a candidate in a local election or local by-election it is a legal requirement for the agent to submit a set of formal Candidate Election Expense Returns once the election is over.
These returns detail the amount of money that has been spent on the campaign during the regulated election period – and how that money has been used. They provide legal proof that the campaign did not incur costs above the legal spending limit in the election.
Even if no expenditure was made during the campaign to promote a candidate – a set of expense forms still need to be submitted.
- The current expense limit for local elections in England is £960 plus 8p per elector. In Scotland and Wales, it is £806 plus 7p per voter, but this is expected to be updated.
The amount is reduced where we have multi-member wards with more than one Lib Dem candidates:
| Number of candidates | Reduction in spending limit |
| 2 | 25% |
| 3 or more | 33% |
N.B. Someone standing at the same time for election to two different councils, e.g. county and parish, does not count as a joint campaign and they may spend the full amount in both campaigns.
The toolkit below will help you fill out your expense returns by the legal deadline.
The Regulated Period
Your Election Expense return covers all spending used to promote the candidate during the regulated period of the election. This is the day after the date you officially become a candidate and ends at 10pm on polling day – which for the 2026 Local Elections is Thursday 7 May.
The latest point for the notice of election being published for the 2026 local elections is Monday 30 March. You will become a candidate at midnight on this date (i.e. as the date turns into Tuesday 31 May) if you, or someone else such as a member of staff or colleague, have declared your intention to stand – for instance on literature, in a press release, at a public meeting etc.
ALDC advise that you consider yourself a candidate from this date – and record all spending thereafter in your expense return. This makes the process much simpler and protects against any challenge that might be made over when you were declared a candidate.
In the May 2026 Local Elections nominations close on Thursday 9 April at 4pm. This is the latest date you can become a candidate. However, you should not leave it until the last day to submit your nomination paperwork.
Paperwork
Your Candidate Spending Return form must be printed and submitted physically. You cannot send it electronically. The Election Commission have introduced new, easier to use forms.
- The formal Candidate Election Expense Return paperwork for England and Wales Principal Authority local elections can be downloaded from the Electoral Commission website. There is a pdf form if you wish to write it by hand or an Excel version to fill in and print off. Use those titled NEW VERSION.
- Candidates and Agents will also need to submit declaration forms along with the expense forms for their ward.
- The English and Welsh spending forms, nil return form, and candidate and agent declarations are found in the ‘After the election’ section on this Electoral Commission Page.
- English Parish and Town Council elections have distinct paperwork for both spending returns and nil returns, that can be downloaded here.
- Wales Community Council election expense instructions, including the return can be downloaded here.
- In Scotland, for principal councils, the pdf form is here, the Excel form here, the candidate declaration here, and the agent declaration is here. Community Council elections are non-partisan.
Some Councils may issue older or slightly different forms. The legal requirement is that you submit your expenses and declarations, it is not specific on which forms or formats are used. If the forms in the examples that follow do not seem to match those you have been issued with by your council, you have two choices:
- Print off a set of forms from the Electoral Commissions website and follow these instructions. You do not have to use the forms the council give you.
- You could use forms issued by the council. However, you may have a problem matching the forms to the guidance. If you are confused by the forms being issued by your Council you can contact ALDC for advice.
Deadlines for Expense Returns
The deadline for submitting your Election Expense paperwork for the 2026 Local Elections changes depending on the day in which the election result is declared, and whether you are standing in a Principal Authority election or a Town, Parish or Community Council election.
For all Principal Authority Elections in England, Scotland and Wales the deadline is always 35 days after the result is declared. So for example when looking at the 2026 local election timetable:
- If your result is declared on Thursday 7 May the deadline for returns is Thursday 11 June
- If your result is declared on Friday 8 May the deadline for returns is Friday 12 June
- If your result is declared between Saturday 9 and Monday 12 May the deadline for returns is Monday 15 June
The agent’s declaration form must go in with the expense return paperwork. Within 7 days of submitting the expense return the Returning Officer must receive the candidate’s declaration form. It is best practice to just return this at the same time as your expenses.
Deadlines for Town, Parish and Community Council Candidate Expense Returns
The deadline for submitting expense returns for Parish, Town and Community Council elections is 28 days after the date of the election. So for the 2026 local elections this is Thursday 4 June.
Parish Council candidates are legally their own agent. It is still a legal necessity for Parish candidates to submit a set of expense returns. These returns must include any leaflet that promoted the Parish candidate – even if these were produced for principal authority elections occurring on the same day.
Payment Deadlines
As well as putting in your expense return, you must receive invoices and pay bills by set times:
| Principal councils | Town, parish and community councils | |
| Receive your invoices | 21 | 14 |
| Pay your invoices | 28 | 21 |
| Calendar days after the declaration of the result | ||
Running Through Your Expense Forms
Below is a run through of the Election Expense forms with some notes to help you fill them out. The below forms are for Principal Authority elections in England and Wales. The forms for Scottish elections are identical and the same rules apply – however they are uniquely branded and you should use the Scottish forms for Scottish elections on the Electoral Commission website.
As indicated above, parish, town and Welsh community council elections have their own forms that look significantly different from the forms below. The spending limits are the same, but they are recorded differently on the forms.
You can find further guidance on how to declare your election spending in our Local Election Agents Toolkit.
Page 1
The layout is simplified compared to the previous expense forms.
Sections 1 and 2
You need to add the correct details into these sections.
The council will give you the number of electors. DO NOT use the number from Connect.
The date you became a candidate is normally the day after the last date for the publication of notice of election NOT the date the nomination papers went in.
Joint candidate – This refers to whether the ward is multi-member and if there were other Lib Dem candidates standing in the same ward in the same election. If you are a candidate for two different councils, e.g. district and new unitary, that is not a joint campaign.
Section 3
3a Put in the totals for each worksheet. If worksheets 4 and 5 are not nil, ask for advice from ALDC or the Lib Dem Compliance Team before submitting.
3b This is the same amounts but reconfigured for the categories A-F (see below).
The total for 3a and 3b MUST be equal.
Page 2
In a local election Section 4 will normally be nil.
Section 5
Total your donations from the donations sheets. This does not include notional donations and spend BELOW £50.
Hopefully, you will not have an impermissible donations. If you did, they must have been returned. If in doubt, ask the Federal Lib Dem Compliance Team for help.
Your donations must be equal to or above your total election spending in Section 3.
Worksheets 1, 2 and 3
Instead of separate worksheets for the six different categories of election spending , all spending is recorded on these sheets, with the category (A-F) stated in column 4. Please ask for advice if you are unsure on the categories or refer to the guide.
You must include a receipt or invoice for expenditure over £20. Use an item code for each one, writing it both on the invoice and in column one.
Item, e.g. A3 leaflets or Facebook advertising.
Date expense incurred is the date it was used by the campaign (so if it was originally bought by the local party before the campaign, the date incurred is the date it was transferred to the agent).
The amount is the amount applicable to the campaign. So, if the original bill was £200 for 5,000 leaflets but you only used 4,000 (the remaining being wastage) the amount declared is 4/5 of £200, i.e. £160. Write the corresponding calculation on the attached invoice.
There is a separate sheet for Notional Expenses (gifts in kind). These are items that have a value but you did not pay for them.
Worksheet 3 is for items where the agent gave written authorisation for someone else to spend money. Ask for advice from ALDC if you are using this form.
Worksheets 4 and 5
Worksheets 4 and 5 should only be used if you are advised to do so by the Lib Dem Compliance Team or ALDC. They are used if you receive an in invoice after the legal deadline, or pay your invoice after the legal deadline. To legally pay these invoices might require a court order.
Contact ALDC if you find yourself in this situation – but it is essential to ensure all invoices are received and paid by the deadlines set out earlier in this toolkit to avoid this.
Personal Expenses
This form is used to record expenses incurred and paid personally by the candidate for the purposes of campaign – that are not campaign expenditure.
An example could be the use of public transport to attend an event. The use of the candidates house, personal car, items such as a mobile phone would not need to be recorded as these are primarily for personal use rather than campaign use.
This expenditure does not count towards election spending.
Donations
Please refer to the ALDC Agents Toolkit or the Lib Dem Compliance Team if you have any doubts about what donations are permissible.
Type of donor is normally registered voter, unincorporated association, political party (including your local party), or limited company.
Your main donor should be your local party.
We should now enter the nature of any notional donation in column 7