Guidance on electoral registration form designs and letters
Part 2: Letters and emails
Published February 2014; updated June 2017
This part of the guidance looks at the different letter templates we have provided, and provides instructions for how to use these. The letter templates are available on our website at: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration/registration-forms-and-letters.
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This guidance should be read in conjunction with our guidance for Electoral Registration Officers, which sets out which forms and letters to send, and when, and the requirements for pre-printing information.
The letters are divided into those you must use (as prescribed by legislation), and those we strongly recommend you use (because they have been user tested with the public and we know they work). You also have the option to email an Invitation To Register where you have the email address of a potential elector. The content of the email template is prescribed (see p4 for more information on the email template).
The list of prescribed letters and emails is as follows:
· Invitation to register (to be used with the registration application form).
· Confirmation of a successful application (made in response to an invitation to register)
· Confirmation of a successful application (unsolicited)
· Email Invitation to register (with link to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote).
The list of strongly recommended letters is as follows:
· Household enquiry letter (to be used with the household enquiry form)
· Invitation to register – reminder
· Requirement to register
The list of recommended letters has been developed based on feedback we’ve had about what will be most useful for you. The list of strongly recommended letters is, however, not exhaustive, and you are welcome to use any of these letters as the basis for others that you may wish to send.
The letters include two website addresses. Where people are being asked to register to vote they are directed to gov.uk/register-to-vote.
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We have also made available template letters for you to use and adapt when you:
• require documentary evidence from electors under the exceptions process
• require an applicant to provide an attestation
• are undertaking the civil penalty process.
These templates have not been user tested but meet the legal requirements. The letter templates are available on our website at: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration/registration-forms-and-letters
Prescribed letters
The prescribed layout of the forms is set out on page 6 of the forms guidance. The letters and forms must be in the following format:
Page 1 – letter
Pages 2 and 3 – form
Page 4 – back page with relevant guidance for corresponding sections of the form; data protection statemement; and the statutory wording about the open register (exluding the blank HEF).
The approved forms are in A3 format. You must therefore print these in A3, in the above layout.
Prescribed content and tailored elements
The prescribed letters contain approved wording, which you must use. However, parts of these letters should be tailored with local information. The following elements should be tailored:
· Use of local authority logo, contact details and letterhead (however the ‘Your vote matters, don’t lose it’ logo must also be used)
· Reference number. This can be the elector number or some other reference, or can be left out if not applicable. You can change the text to ‘Elector number’ rather than ‘Reference’ if appropriate.
· Date by which the recipient should respond (invitation to register)
· Date the recipient will be added to the register following a successful application (confirmation letters)
· Local options for returning the information (for example by phone if available). You should include all the options that you provide
In addition, you do not need to use the letters in the Word templates that they are provided in. You may copy and paste the text and graphics into another software program or document if you wish (such as a local authority letterhead). We have therefore also provided the graphics as separate files. This branding, and its position, forms part of the design and where EROs are required by law to use a Commission-designed letter, the letter should be set out exactly as shown in the template. The templates indicate what information, if any, including local authority logos, may be added or tailored locally. Nothing else can be added or altered.
Invitation to register
You will need to decide on a deadline to include in the invitation to register, taking into account that you are required to send a ‘reminder’ invitation if the recipient does not make an application to register within a reasonable period of time. In our view, the deadline should not be more than 28 days (4 weeks) from the date on the invitation. In testing, a 4 week deadline was felt to strike the appropriate balance between being near enough for the task to remain in people’s minds, but not so close that it would feel unreachable or overly demanding. In some circumstances, however, such as where you are approaching the conclusion of the canvass or where there is an election due to take place, it may be appropriate to set a shorter deadline and it is for you to decide on a suitable deadline taking into account relevant considerations.
If you provide phone options for supplying information, you should amend this section of the letter accordingly.
The invitation to register letter must contain the graphic that is included on the letter and begins with ‘Register to vote’. You can also find a copy of the graphic on our website.
Email Invitation to register
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have the option to send an invitation to register by electronic means, including by email. For example, where an email address of a potential elector has been included on a returned HEF the potential elector could be invited to register by email using the template provided. Please note: the email ITR includes a link to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote, an invitation to register should not be emailed as an attachment.
We know that electoral services have a variety of software providers and capabilties and it will be down to each individual ERO to liaise with their technical/IT and/or EMS suppliers to decide how best to collate email addresses and action the email ITR.
We have provided subject line and body text content and place holders for inserting data.
We have provided the tempate in Word and plain text. We have kept the look and feel of the email as plain as possible to ensure that emails do not get caught up behind firewalls or get treated as junkmail.
Strongly recommended letters
In addition to the prescribed letters, we have created a number of other letters that we recommend you use. These have been developed by a process of consultation with stakeholders including EROs and electoral administrators, software suppliers and the general public (through user-testing and message testing).
The list of recommended letters has been developed based on feedback we’ve had about what will be most useful for you. We know that you may need to send several other types of letter, but we have focused on the letters where we feel we can add most value through the learnings from user-testing and behavioural insight work. We strongly recommend you use one of the recommended letters as the basis for any other letters that you send, including branding and wording where appropriate.
You can make changes to the templates for the recommended letters but if you do so, you must ensure that the letters comply with the relevant legislative requirements.
Deadline dates
We recommend that where the recipient is being asked to provide information or make an application you include a date by which the recipient must do so. In testing, we found that participants strongly approved of the addition of a deadline date. This reinforced the idea that providing the information is something they must do, and helps them to visualise when they are going to complete the task. Without this date, they felt they might leave the form and eventually forget about it. You will need to set a deadline date that is appropriate for the content of the letter and local circumstances.
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Part 4: ‘Maintaining the register throughout the year’ contains detailed guidance on when confirmation letters should be sent to electors.
Letter formats
Use of colour
We have provided letters in both colour and black and white.
We strongly recommend that you use colour versions where possible. This increases reader engagement and improves legibility. You must not change the provided graphics and logo to any other colour.
If you print letters in black and white, you should use the black and white versions, including black and white logo and centre graphic. Printing colour images in black and white will result in a very poor quality printed product.
Software format
We have provided the letters in Word 1997-2003, based on feedback on which format is most popular. However, you may produce your letters in whichever software format you use, and can simply copy and paste the content into the document you intend to use.
Welsh letters to be used in Wales
When sending a letter with a form, you must produce the letter in both English and Welsh and include the appropriate letter on the front page of each of the English and Welsh language forms.
When sending a letter on its own (such as a confirmation letter), you should follow your local authority’s Welsh language policy.
Envelopes
We provided recommended layouts for the 2014 write out that you could use to produce your envelopes. You may still find these helpful. The layouts were previously approved by Royal Mail for non-machine-readable products such as Business Mail High Sort, however you will need to ensure that the designs you use meet your own mailing supplier’s current specifications. These are available on our website and can be adapted for your business as usual processes.
We know that different local authorities have different mailing agreements in place (including with companies other than Royal Mail) and we cannot produce suggested designs to fulfil every possible requirement. We have set out our recommendations in PDF, which can be used as a visual guide to the suggested layout. You can also use the InDesign files we have supplied. We have given instructions in the supplied branding guidelines on how to put envelopes together using the individual elements of logo, local authority address and wording. If you do not want to use the recommended InDesign files, please use the branding files to put together your envelopes in a way that fits with your own mailing supplier requirements. However, we ask that you adhere to the brand guidelines as closely as possible by using the recommended fonts, sizes and wording.
You can find the envelope artwork and PDF files on our website: at https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration/registration-forms-and-letters.
You can find the branding files (e.g. logos) at http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration/public-engagement-resources.
Colour of envelopes
We strongly recommend that you use brown envelopes wherever possible. In testing, these were shown to be a much stronger motivator than white envelopes in getting people to open the envelope. They benefit from the perception that anything in a brown envelope is likely to be from an official source and is therefore likely to be important e.g. a tax demand or rebate. In contrast, white envelopes were much more likely to be dismissed as junk mail if the recipient didn’t read the logo or contact details, and was more likely to be thrown away.
Given that these envelopes are likely to lead to a better response rate we would hope that any additional costs will be offset, but it will be for each individual ERO to decide what colour of envelope to use.
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Guidance on electoral registration forms and letters