Guidance

Privacy notice: Electoral Registration Officer contact register for use by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Published 25 September 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-electoral-registration-officer-contact-register/privacy-notice-electoral-registration-officer-contact-register-for-use-by-the-ministry-of-housing-communities-and-local-government

1. Data controller

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the data controller. You can contact the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk.

2. What personal data we collect and why

We’re collecting your personal data to send out important information about the Digital Electoral Services (DES) and MHCLG. These communications include newsletters and important service updates.

We’ll  collect this data and refresh it regularly  on a 3-to-6-month cycle.

We’ll need to process the following personal data for our contact register:

  • first name
  • last name
  • role within local authority
  • email addresses
  • contact telephone numbers

3. Lawful basis  for processing the data

Data protection legislation sets out when we’re lawfully allowed to process your data. The processing is necessary for the exercise of a function of a government department (Article 6(1)(e) of UK General Data Protection Regulations). In this case it’s to communicate important information about the DES to our stakeholders; for example, service updates and improvements.

It’s also used to communicate general updates about ongoing work within the MHCLG Elections directorate, and to ask for input from electoral administrators.

4. Who we share your personal data with

We’ll share your personal data with:

  • GOV Notify, whom we use to send emails
  • IT suppliers who help us to provide our services

We may also share your contact information with the MHCLG Elections Research & Analysis (ERA) team in MHCLG, who may use this to invite you to participate in research (including surveys and focus groups). The research is used to better inform policy making around electoral processes, or to inform improvements to the DES.

If you agree to take part in qualitative research, the ERA team will ask for your consent separately, and you’ll be able to read a distinct privacy notice for that research.

As your personal data will be stored in our IT network, we’ll also share it with our data processors who provide email, document management, and storage services.

5. Retention    

We’ll store your data securely in our systems and hold onto it for as long as you’re in post. Otherwise, we’ll keep your personal data for as long as you want us to stay in touch with you.

Your Electoral Registration Officer nominates a primary contact, and we’ll contact them each year prior to the May elections and when we issue the annual Acceptable Use Policy to review the details we’ve got on file.

6. Your rights

You’ve got the right to ask us:

  • for information about how we process your personal data and a copy of what personal data we hold about you
  • to correct any inaccuracies in your personal data
  • to erase your personal if there’s no longer a good reason for us to process it
  • to restrict how we process your personal data in certain circumstances (for example, where it may be inaccurate)

You’ve also got the right to object to us processing your personal data, but we may need you to provide us with alternative contact details.

When we process data with your consent, you’ve got the right to:

  • withdraw your consent to us recording your personal data at any time

7. Sending data overseas

We will not send or store your personal data overseas.

8. Automated decision making

We will not use your personal data for any kind of automated decision making.

9. Storage, security and data management

All data is stored securely in our Amazon Web Services (AWS) database, and access to the data is governed through AWS identity and access management (IAM) controls.

10. Complaints

When we ask for your information, we’ll keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If you’re unhappy with the way we’ve acted, you can make a complaint.

If you want to make a Subject Access Request (SAR), another request in relation to your rights, or if you’re not happy with how we’re using your personal data, you should contact dataprotection@communities.gov.uk first.

If you’re still not happy, or you’d like independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, you can write to:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Or call:

  • 0303 123 1113
  • 01625 545 745

You can also contact them via the Information Commissioner’s website.

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