Eligibility Confirmation Review (ECR) Project

From the 7 May 2024, EU citizens are no longer automatically entitled to register, vote or stand for elections which use the local government election franchise. These changes are a result of The Elections Act 2022 and following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

Two types of EU Citizens will retain their voting and candidacy rights, these include the following:

• 'Qualifying EU citizens' - citizens of EU countries which the UK has bilateral Voting and Candidacy Rights (VCR) treaty with currently (as of May 2024) are:

• • Luxembourg
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Denmark

• 'EU citizens with retained rights' - EU citizens from any other EU country who have been legally resident in the UK since before the UK left the EU on 31/12/2020.

Following the changes to EU citizens registration entitlement, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is required to conduct a review of all EU citizens on the electoral register via a project called the Eligibility Confirmation Review (ECR). 

The purpose of the ECR is to;

• Identify individuals who are eligible to remain registered to vote, and;
• Identify those who are not eligible to remain registered and remove them from the register.

Following the outcome of our review, we must formally confirm to individuals whether they can remain registered, or if they must be removed from the electoral register.

The ECR is a one-off exercise, and no equivalent action will be required in future.

We must complete the ECR by the 31 January 2025.

The ECR process will consist of 2 parts, these are:

• The data-based review
• The correspondence-based review

The first stage in the ECR process is for the ERO to conduct a data-based review of all EU citizens on the Electoral Register.

The data-based review involves both an automatic and manual data matching process of individuals via the use of any data which the ERO may hold or have access to for the purpose of their registration duties.

This data will enable us to identify qualifying EU citizens and EU citizens with retained rights without taking any further action other than to write to the individual to confirm they are being retained on the register.

We are not able to establish eligibility for all individuals via the data-based review, and as such, we will then proceed to a correspondence-based review.

The only individuals who will enter the correspondence-based review are those who are citizens of a country where;

• A bilateral Voting and Candidacy Rights (VCR) treaty hasn’t been reached with the UK Government, these include the following countries;

• and we could not determine their eligibility to remain registered via the data-based review.

The purpose of the correspondence review for us to contact individuals directly and request that they confirm whether they are entitled to remain registered under the new criteria for EU voters via answering a historical residency question.

Individuals will need to respond either YES or NO to the following question as part of the correspondence-based review:

Once you have responded to this question, you must then sign a declaration to declare;

• To the best of your knowledge, the information in this form is true.
• That you understand that it is an offence to knowingly provide false information in this form and if convicted you may be imprisoned for up to six months, and/or face an unlimited fine.

We will make 3 attempts to contact individuals as part the correspondence-based review.

These stages are set out in the graph below:

Please note that e-mails will be sent from: mid.sussex.district.council@notifications.service.gov.uk

The quickest way to respond is online by following the steps below:

1. Go to www.gov.uk/eu-voter-reply.
2. Read the information on the screen and click “Start Now”.
3. Enter the one-time unique security code provided on your e-mail or letter and complete the service.

Alternatively, you can respond via:

• e-mail: elections@midsussex.gov.uk
• telephone: 01444 477003
• by returning the form you have received via post to: FAO: Electoral Services, Mid Sussex District Council, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1SS