The Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026
Commenced the remaining provisions of the 2025 Act to limit postal vote durations and align expiry dates for different election types in Scotland and Wales.
These Regulations bring the remaining sections of the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025 into force on 3 November 2026, establishing new limits on the duration of postal voting entitlements for local government elections in Scotland and Wales.
The instrument directs electoral registration officers to align the expiry dates of a person's parliamentary postal vote with their devolved postal vote and requires officers to notify affected voters and provide instructions for new applications.
These provisions apply to electoral registration officers and individuals registered for absent voting in Scotland and Wales.
Arguments For
The regulations state that the measures align the expiry dates of parliamentary and devolved postal vote entitlements to ensure administrative consistency.
Proponents argue that the instrument facilitates the full implementation of the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025 by bringing its remaining sections into force.
The document asserts that these changes prevent confusion by treating joint applications as invalid if the devolved portion fails to meet new requirements.
The government states that no significant impact on the private, voluntary, or public sectors is foreseen.
Arguments Against
Legal observers may note that the regulations automatically terminate existing parliamentary postal vote entitlements earlier than originally scheduled to match devolved expiry dates.
Administrative bodies might face increased workloads due to the requirement to notify all affected voters and provide information on fresh applications as soon as practicable after 3 November 2026.
Voters who previously held indefinite postal vote entitlements for different types of elections may find the new maximum duration limits and alignment rules complex to navigate.
Citation and interpretation
- -(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026.
- (2) In these Regulations-
'the 2000 Act' means the Representation of the People Act 2000;
'the 2025 Act' means the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025;
'the 2026 Scottish Regulations' means the Absent Voting (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026;
'the 2026 Welsh Regulations' means the Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026;
'registration officer' means an electoral registration officer appointed in accordance with section 8 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
This section establishes the official name of the regulations and provides definitions for key terms used throughout the document.
It identifies the specific primary and secondary legislation, including Scottish and Welsh regulations, that interact with these provisions.
It also defines 'registration officer' as the official responsible for maintaining electoral records.
Appointed day
2 The day appointed for the coming into force of section 1(4) to (6) of the 2025 Act is 3rd November 2026.
This section sets 3 November 2026 as the date when the final sections of the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025 take effect.
These specific sections introduce the legal authority to limit the maximum length of time a person can be entitled to vote by post or as a postal proxy in Scottish and Welsh local elections.
Specified date
3 For the purposes of the definitions of 'devolved election postal vote entitlement' and 'parliamentary election postal vote entitlement' in section 4(6) of the 2025 Act, the specified date is 3rd November 2026.
This section designates 3 November 2026 as the reference date for determining existing voting entitlements.
This date acts as the trigger point for the transitional arrangements that align different types of postal voting records.
Transitional provision: outstanding absent voting applications
- -(1) Paragraph (2) applies where-
(a) either-
- (i) an absent voting application for local government elections in Scotland is treated as having not been made, in accordance with regulation 24(1) of the 2026 Scottish Regulations, or
- (ii) a devolved absent voting application or a devolved proxy postal voting application is treated as having not been made in accordance with regulation 30(1) of the 2026 Welsh Regulations, and
- (b) the same application included an application under paragraph 3, 4, 6 or 7 of Schedule 4 to the 2000 Act in relation to a parliamentary election or parliamentary elections.
(2) Where this paragraph applies-
- (a) the application described in paragraph (1)(b) is also to be treated as having not been made, and
- (b) as soon as practicable on or after 3rd November 2026 the registration officer must send the applicant information about how to make a fresh application.
This section addresses pending applications that cover both local and UK parliamentary elections.
If the local government part of the application is invalidated under new Scottish or Welsh rules, the parliamentary part is also automatically treated as not having been made.
Registration officers are required to contact these applicants after 3 November 2026 to explain how to reapply.
Transitional provision: aligning expiry of certain parliamentary election postal voting entitlements where devolved election postal voting entitlements expiring
- -(1) Paragraph (2) applies where-
- (a) immediately before 3rd November 2026, a person ('P') holds both a parliamentary election postal voting entitlement and a devolved election postal voting entitlement,
- (b) P's devolved election postal vote entitlement ends on the transitional expiry date in accordance with regulation 25(4)(a) of the 2026 Scottish Regulations or regulation 32(4) of the 2026 Welsh Regulations.
(2) P's parliamentary postal vote entitlement ends on the same date as P's devolved election postal vote entitlement (unless it ends sooner).
(3) As soon as practicable on or after 3rd November 2026, the registration officer must alter the record kept under paragraph 3(4) or 7(6) of Schedule 4 to the 2000 Act (as the case may be) to reflect any change resulting from paragraph (2) in the period for which P's parliamentary election postal vote entitlement lasts.
(4) Before the date on which P's parliamentary election postal vote entitlement is to end in accordance with paragraph (2), the registration officer must send to P, at P's qualifying address-
- (a) a notice informing P of the date on which P's parliamentary election postal vote entitlement is to end, and
- (b) information about how to make a fresh application to vote by post (as elector or as proxy, as the case may be) at parliamentary elections.
(5) In this regulation-
- (a) in paragraph (1)(b), 'transitional expiry date' has the same meaning as in regulation 25(9) of the 2026 Scottish Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 32(9) of the 2026 Welsh Regulations;
- (b) in paragraph (4), 'qualifying address' means the address in respect of which the person is registered as an elector in the register of parliamentary electors maintained under section 9(1)(a) of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
This section ensures that a voter's postal voting rights for UK parliamentary elections expire at the same time as their rights for local Scottish or Welsh elections.
It mandates registration officers to update their records to reflect these aligned dates.
Officers must also notify the voter of the impending expiry and provide details on how to submit a new application before the current entitlement ends.
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