Update on elections to be held in May 2025
All 2,118 Parish Council seats are up for re-election on 1 May 2025 alongside the election for Wiltshire Councillors to the 98 Unitary Divisions. The election timetable will begin in mid-March. The close of nominations will be 4pm on Wednesday 2 April as set down in law.
We are unable to anticipate the number of contested elections that will take place across Wiltshire. However, in 2021, we received 1,850 parish nominations, and 63 parish areas were contested.
Recharge costs for Parish elections
As per the information provided in January 2023, we are unable to provide bespoke charges per parish for the upcoming elections as they depend on variable circumstances.
The cost of running contested parish elections in 2021 was around £1.70 per elector. However, this is an indicative cost which we expect will be higher in 2025, particularly due to increases in things such as postage.
You are no doubt aware of your electorate figures (which are of course subject to change) but if that is not the case then please contact customerservices@wiltshire.gov.uk and we will be able to confirm the latest figure for you.
The costs that the parish are responsible for include (but are not limited to):
• The hire of polling stations
• The printing of ballot papers and postal votes (including postage)
• The cost of staffing the election
• Checking and receiving all nominations
• The cost of the counting all returned votes, including postal votes and those cast at the polling station
Where the cost only relates to the parish (for example printing the parish council election ballot papers) this cost will be fully recharged to the parish. Where the cost is shared with the Wiltshire Council unitary election, 50% of the cost will be recharged to the parish (for example the hire of the polling stations).
If an election is uncontested the cost of the recharge is dependent on the number of nominations received.
In 2021 the cost of running an uncontested election was between £200 – £1100.
Payment
We recognise that the financial implications for some parish and town councils may be challenging and would be happy to agree arrangements for the payment of election costs to allow appropriate financial planning. This includes extending the timescale to pay the costs past the 2025 financial year.
