Annual Canvass 2025

Each year, we are required by law to contact every household to find out if the details we hold on the electoral register are correct.

This takes place between July and November and is known as the annual canvass of electors.

The purpose of the annual canvass is to ensure that we have a complete and accurate electoral register. We publish a revised copy of the electoral register on 1 December.  

You need to be on the electoral register to vote in elections and apply for credit.

How can I respond?

Depending on what information we hold, we will contact you by email or by post. This will be from early July onwards. 

When we contact you, the email or letter will explain what action, if any, you must take. If you are required to respond, the email or letter will also include a respond by date.

Please consider responding to the canvass online wherever possible. The website you will be asked to visit is www.householdresponse.com/gloucester. You will need security codes to respond, and these will be included in the email or letter we send you. 

You can also respond by contacting us on 01452 396203, by emailing elections@gloucester.gov.uk, or post any correspondence back to us at Electoral Services, Gloucester City Council, Eastgate Management Suite, Eastgate Street, Gloucester, GL1 1PA.

Have you received an email from us?

To provide reassurance to you that our contact is not a scam, if you receive an email from us it will only come from Gloucester@householdresponse.com with a subject line of ‘Act now to confirm your electoral registration’. 

Please respond by visiting the link provided in the email and entering the security codes that have been emailed to you.

If we do not receive a response from a member of the household to our emails, a reminder letter will be sent to the property. Please help us by responding as soon as possible to any email(s) your household receives.

Moved address?

If you have received an email from us regarding an address you are no longer resident at, you can also use the online service to inform us who has moved out. You will need the security codes for this which will have been emailed to you.

New residents at your address need to apply to register

Responding to a canvass document will not result in new residents at the address automatically being added to the electoral register. The response tells us who lives in the property, and we then use this information to help new residents register to vote if they are eligible.

Each new resident at your property whose details were provided to us in response to the letter or email your household received must complete an application to be registered to vote at your address.

We will contact new residents at the property by email or letter and formally invite them to register to vote, but there is no need to wait for our letter;  each new resident can apply now at Register to vote - GOV.UK .It takes just a few minutes. 

When making a register to vote application, new residents will need to provide their date of birth and National Insurance Number, but if you don't have all the information needed, get in touch as there may still be a way that you can register to vote.

It is a legal requirement to register to vote when invited by the Electoral Registration Officer to do so.  An £80 fine can be issued if you fail to register without an adequate reason.

If you have any questions regarding the annual canvass or registering to vote, please email elections@gloucester.gov.uk