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Elections

Casual Vacancies

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Casual Vacancies

Current casual vacancies

Wychavon District Council – Hartlebury Ward

pdf Details of a notice of Vacancy Hartlebury District Ward (64 KB)

Drakes Broughton and Wadborough with Pirton Parish Council – Wadborough ward

pdf Details of a casual vacancy for Drakes Broughton and Wadborough with Pirton Parish Council – Wadborough ward (60 KB)

Ashton-Under-Hill Parish Council

pdf Details of a casual vacancy for Ashton-Under-Hill Parish Council. (59 KB)

Information for Parish and Town Clerks on Casual Vacancies

A casual vacancy occurs when a parish or town councillor vacates their seat between ordinary elections.

There are six main reasons why this might
happen:

  1. Resignation
  2. Death
  3. Non-attendance at meetings for over six months
  4. Becoming disqualified
  5. Not signing Declaration of Acceptance of Office
  6. Decision of an election court

What to do if you have a casual vacancy

Please contact us by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as you aware of the vacancy.

We need to know the:

  • name of the councillor
  • ward the vacancy is in (only if your council is warded)
  • the reason for the vacancy.

We will then produce the Notice of Vacancy for you.

Notice of Vacancy

The Notice of Vacancy gives local electors an opportunity to request that an election is held to fill the vacancy.

The notice must be displayed on your Parish Noticeboard and website. It can also be advertised elsewhere as you see fit.

We will put it on our website and noticeboard too.

Requests for an election

Requests for an election must be made to our elections team (technically the “Proper Officer”). They must be signed by at least ten local electors. These requests can come individually or together. They must be from registered local electors within the Parish, or if the Parish is warded, from within the Parish Ward where the vacancy is.

We must receive requests within 14 working days of the date of the Notice of Vacancy.

We will let you know as soon as a valid request for an election has been received.

Co-option to a casual vacancy

If no request for an election is received, we will let you know that you can co-opt someone to the council.

Information for parish and town clerks on By-elections

If an election is called then the information below will be helpful to guide you on the process and your obligations.

Election date

If a by-election is called, our first task is to decide on a date. The law stipulates that it must be held within 60 working days of the date of the Notice of Vacancy.

The exact date is the decision of the Returning Officer alone. Normally, the date is a Thursday and as late as possible, to allow the necessary preparations.

Nomination Period

The next step is the period for candidates to come forward to stand. The instructions and dates for this are contained in the Notice of Election.

The nomination period is about a week long and has a strict end period, mandated by law (4pm, 19 working days before the election date).

Official Notices

There are a series of official notices that must be displayed on parish noticeboards, websites and anywhere else you see fit. These are all produced by the Electoral Services team and will be emailed to you for display. They are listed below:

  • Notice of Election – kicks everything off and contains nomination information as
    mentioned above
  • Statement of Persons Nominated – contains the results of the nomination period – i.e. a list of candidates. Must be published within a day of close of nominations.
  • Notice of Poll OR Notice of Uncontested Election: One of these will then be published, depending on whether there are sufficient candidates to need an
    actual election or not.
  • Notice of Situation of Polling Stations: will also be published in the event a poll is going ahead.
  • Finally, the official “Declaration of Result of Poll” will be produced with the outcome. Once this is published, the Parish can get in touch with the successful candidate to make arrangements to take up office.
  • Agents: Candidates cannot appoint an election agent for parish-level elections. However they
    can appoint polling, counting and postal vote agents if they wish. Forms for this will be
    sent direct to candidates – the deadline for appointments is five working days before the
    election.

The Count

The count is normally held the day after the election at 10am in the Committee Room at the Civic Centre, Pershore. Candidates can attend the count if they wish, with any count agents they have appointed, plus one guest.

Candidate Expenses

The Elections department must receive an expense return from every candidate within 28 days of the election EVEN for an Uncontested Election and EVEN when they have spent nothing.

This is the candidate’s responsibility of course, but they cannot sit or vote until this is done, once the 28 days is up.

Election Costs

Our policy is to recover the costs of running the election from the Parish/Town Council. This is done by invoicing for direct costs and levying a set fee per elector
for indirect costs.

Please note, Poll cards are optional for parish elections. The decision about whether to send them is entirely that of the parish or town council but we can provide indicative costs.

More information

If you need help or more information please contact our electoral services team on 01386 565437 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can also find guidance for candidates in town and parish council elections on the Electoral Commission website.