Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authority Returning Officers, in the areas with cancelled council elections in May 2026 which have now been reinstated, will be financially indemnified by HM Government.

Local government elections are the responsibility of local authorities, which appoint and fund Returning Officers and meet the costs of administering local polls.

Returning Officers are personally legally liable for the conduct of local elections and make their own arrangements to insure against risks arising from the discharge of their statutory duties at local and UK Parliamentary elections. This cover usually forms part of the local authority’s own insurance arrangements.

Indemnities are only provided in limited and exceptional circumstances, and no such exceptional circumstances apply in relation to the May 2026 local government elections.