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About the electoral register

We are currently carrying out our Annual Canvass, to update the electoral register.

Everyone who is registered to vote will appear on the full electoral register.

The open electoral register is an extract of the full electoral register that is available to anyone who wants to buy a copy.

Your name and address will automatically be added to the open register, unless you opt out.

You can opt out of the open register:

when you register to vote
during our annual canvass
by completing an online request form

You can find more information about the electoral register on GOV.UK.

By law, we have to supply some individuals and organisations with a copy of the full register if they request it, including:

elected representatives (such as MPs and local councillors)
candidates for local and national elections
local constituency parties
parish councils

If you want to check if you are already on the register, you will need to contact us.

We have to supply copies of the full electoral register to credit reference agencies.

Even if you have opted out of the open register we have to make your details available to credit reference agencies.

Credit reference agencies use the electoral register to help calculate your credit score and decide if you should get credit.

If you’re not on the electoral register, it may have a negative effect on your credit score.

You must register to vote to appear on the electoral register. You don’t have to vote even after you have registered.

You can contact us to check if you are on the electoral register, but we can’t contact credit reference agencies for you.

Request a Certificate of Inclusion

If a credit reference agency asks you to prove that you are on the electoral register, we can give you a Certificate of Inclusion.

The Certificate of Inclusion confirms that you are on the electoral register at your address.

We can only send the certificate to the person registered at that address, not to anyone else.

We can't issue any certificates while we are updating the register as part of the Annual Canvass.

You can view the full Electoral Register at our Civic Centre offices. You can’t view it online.

The Electoral Commission has set some restrictions on what you can and can’t do when viewing the register.

You can:

view the current live register
make handwritten notes

You can’t:

view the register unsupervised
take pictures of or photocopy the register
look up anyone by name
use the information for marketing purposes
view historical registers

There are over 78,000 addresses on the register, split across six folders. We organise it in order of polling district, and then alphabetically by street name.

It only contains names and elector numbers, not other details, such as contact numbers or forwarding addresses.

We recommend that you let us know you want to view the register in advance by booking an appointment online. This means we can bring out the most relevant section(s) of the register for you.

However, you can also drop in and view the register at any time during our opening hours.