Becoming a County Councillor

In May 2025 the term of office of the current members of Nottinghamshire County Council comes to an end and elections are held for a new administration. These pages tell you briefly how to stand for election.

The conduct of County Council elections are prescribed by law so although this is an accurate statement of the law it does not cover all circumstances. If necessary, you should take advice. There are several elections offences that can have serious consequences, so you should acquaint yourself with more detailed guidance – www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Elections take place every 4 years.

How many County Councillors are there?

There will be 66 County Council members elected after the election on 1 May 2025, to represent the County’s 56 electoral divisions. Details of boundaries down to polling district level are available from the relevant District / Borough Council.

What do County Councillors do?

All County Councillors are expected to:

represent the interests of the residents of their area;
use their local knowledge and views to help to make Council decisions;
ensure as far as reasonably practicable the quality of County Council services in their area;
provide advice and support to local people who want information or want to use County Council services.

Councillors do this by:

attending County Council and Committee meetings where policies and strategies are agreed and the performance of the Council is monitored;
working in partnership with other agencies that operate in their area;
making themselves available to meet constituents who may have issues they would like to see addressed by the council, or need to find out more about the council and its services.

Who can stand as a candidate?

To be a candidate for a local council you must:

Be 18 years of age or over and be a British citizen, an eligible Commonwealth citizen, a qualifying EU citizen or an EU citizen with retained rights.
Meet at least one of the following four qualifications on the day you are nominated and on polling day

be registered as a local government elector for the local authority area in which you wish to stand, or
have occupied as owner or tenant any land or premises in the local authority area during the whole of the 12 months before the day they are nominated, or
your main or only place of work (including unpaid) during the last 12 months has been in the local authority area, or
you have lived in the local authority area during the whole of the last 12 months

In short, to stand in the County Council election you must have lived, worked, owned land or property in Nottinghamshire (excluding Nottingham City), and/or been registered to vote.

Am I disqualified from standing?

You cannot be a candidate if at the time of your nomination or election you:

are employed by Nottinghamshire County Council or hold a paid office under the Council;
hold a politically restricted post;
are the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or interim order;
have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months or more (including a suspended sentence), without the option of a fine, during the five years before election day (i.e. since 1 May 2020);
are serving a disqualification due to being found guilty of a corrupt or illegal practice by an election court;
are subject to the notification requirement of or under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Allowances

All County Councillors can claim the basic allowance which is currently £16,925 per annum. Special Responsibility Allowances are also paid for a variety of designated roles, and the levels of these currently range from £4,763 to £39,689. Both types of allowances are automatically uprated in line with the national pay award paid to the Council’s officers. Councillors can also claim for their travel expenses in relation to their Council duties.

Induction and Resources

On taking up office, County Councillors are offered the relevant ICT equipment (a ‘ThinkPad’ laptop device and/or a smartphone). They are also provided with phased induction training and opportunities to access further development on an ongoing basis).

Local Government Reorganisation

You will be aware that the current Government has proposed a national reorganisation of existing local government structures. Reports will be submitted to Full Council meetings of the County, City and District and Borough Councils in March and November 2025 to make initial and final proposals on possible models for that reorganisation. At this stage it is not clear whether the timescales around the reorganisation that follows will have an impact on the County Council’s four year term of office that begins in May 2025. Should you be elected as a County Councillor you will be directly involved in the decision-making around this and you will receive update information as it progresses.

Returning Officers

Adrian Smith, the County Council’s Chief Executive, is the County Returning Officer and has overall responsibility for the County Council election. However, he has appointed chief officers and other officers in each District and Borough Council as his Deputy and Assistant Returning Officers (with full or specific powers as appropriate). The Deputy Returning Officers will run the election for the electoral divisions in their area. If you need advice you should contact the Elections Team at the relevant District or Borough Council in the area in which you plan to stand.

Standing for election

Anyone who meets the criteria set out above is eligible to seek nominations from local electors to stand. You could stand as an independent candidate or on behalf of an established party. The Electoral Commission is responsible for registering political parties – new parties can be registered with the Commission before the election - www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Political parties each have their own arrangements for selecting candidates.

Getting Nominated

The notices of election will be published on Tuesday 25 March. From the date the notice is published you will have until 4pm on Wednesday 2 April to submit a set of nomination forms. Forms are available from the Elections Team in your area.

Nomination papers must include your full name and address and be signed by the required number of registered electors from the Division in which you wish to stand. Those nominating you must be on the electoral register on 1 March 2025. It is recommended that you submit the nomination forms earlier and ask the Elections Team to check that they are valid.

If you change your mind you can withdraw your nomination by writing to the Deputy Returning Officer before 4pm on Wednesday 2 April 2025. To withdraw your nomination you must submit a withdrawal notice, witnessed by one other person who must also sign the notice. A notice of withdrawal form is available from the Elections Team in your area.

The Campaign

If you are nominated the following information will be useful:

Candidates are entitled to a copy of the electoral register for the division for which they are standing for use for electoral purposes. Candidates should be aware that there are penalties for misusing this information.
Candidates are entitled to the use of rooms for meetings in public buildings, each District and Borough Council keeps a list of buildings available for use in their area.
In local elections there is no provision for free postage for an election address so you have to make arrangements for delivery or postage of any communications with the electorate and you are required to meet the costs.
You may use canvassers to try and persuade electors to vote for you but you cannot pay canvassers.
Any campaign publicity issued on your behalf must comply with specific requirements under election law as well as with the general civic and criminal law.

Getting help

The election agent is legally responsible for the proper management of a candidate’s campaign. Candidates may act as their own agent but need to notify the Deputy Returning Officer of who they have appointed as their agent by 4pm on Wednesday 2 April 2025. The candidate can revoke the appointment of an agent and appoint a new agent but the agent cannot resign having signed the acceptance.

Election Expenses

There are restrictions on what candidates can spend during the County Council election campaign. You must produce a statement of expenses after the election to show that you have not exceeded these limits.

This is a link to the Electoral Commission’s latest guidance on spending and donations in relation to local government elections:

Candidate spending | Electoral Commission

For this election, the limit is £960 per candidate plus 8p per local government elector registered to vote in the relevant division on 25 March 2025. For joint candidates fighting the division together and sharing election facilities the total is reduced. The reduction is 25% if there are two joint candidates.

Election expenses can include:

advertising;
unsolicited material addressed to electors (eg leaflets);
transport;
public meetings;
services of an election agent or other staff;
accommodation and administrative costs;
~
costs of designing and operating a website for the campaign.

a UK-based unincorporated association.

You would have to meet the costs of your election campaign. You may receive donations in cash or kind from supporters to help cover these costs.

Candidates may only accept donations of more than £50 from certain “permissible donors”. These include:

an individual registered on a UK electoral register;
a Great Britain-registered political party;
a UK-registered company;
a UK-registered trade union;
a UK-registered building society;
a UK-registered friendly society;
a UK-registered limited liability partnership;

Candidates, or their agent, must satisfy themselves that any donation over £50 is from a permissible donor and must record all donations over £50 on their expenses return.

Your expenses return must be submitted within 35 days of the result being declared, the last day being Friday 6 June 2025.

Polling Day

Polling Day is Thursday 1 May 2025. Polling Stations will be open from 7 am to 10 pm.

After the polling stations are closed, the ballot boxes will be sealed and kept securely. Local arrangements are being made for the verification and you should contact your local Deputy Returning Officer for information on their arrangements.

The count for the County Council elections will take place on Friday 2 May beginning at 11.00 am, (except for Rushcliffe Borough Council, who take a slightly different approach by verifying that day at 9.00 am, with the count commencing thereafter).

Each Deputy Returning Officer will undertake the count in their district and will declare the result. These results will also be relayed via the overarching County Council results service at County Hall.

Acceptance of Office and provision of ICT equipment

The results of the election held on 1 May become effective on Tuesday 6 May 2025, when the terms of office of existing councillors not re-elected will cease.

Before undertaking the role of councillor you will need to sign the declaration of acceptance of office. Arrangements are in place for this to happen in the week commencing Tuesday 6 May 2025 at County Hall with the following schedule arranged:

Date	Time	District	Electoral Divisions
6/5/25	9.30am	Ashfield	Kirkby South, Kirkby North, Sutton Central & East, Ashfields, Sutton North
6/5/25	10.30am	Ashfield	Selston, Sutton West, Hucknall North, Hucknall South, Hucknall West
6/5/25	11.30am	Bassetlaw	Blyth and Harwood, Misterton, Retford East, Retford West, Tuxford
6/5/25	1.00pm	Bassetlaw	Worksop North, Worksop South, Worksop East, Worksop West
6/5/25	2.00pm	Broxtowe	Beeston Central & Rylands, Bramcote and Beeston North, Eastwood, Greasley and Brinsley, Nuthall and Kimberley
6/5/25	3.00pm	Broxtowe	Stapleford & Broxtowe Central, Toton, Chilwell & Attenborough
7/5/25	9.30am	Gedling	Arnold North, Arnold South, Calverton
7/5/25	10.30am	Gedling	Carlton East, Carlton West, Newstead
7/5/25	11.30am	Mansfield	Mansfield East, Mansfield North, Warsop
7/5/25	1.00pm	Mansfield	Mansfield South, Mansfield West
7/5/25	2.00pm	Newark & Sherwood	Balderton, Blidworth, Collingham, Farndon and Trent, Muskham and Farnsfield
7/5/25	3.00pm	Newark & Sherwood	Newark East, Newark West, Ollerton, Sherwood Forest, Southwell
8/5/25	1.00pm	Rushcliffe	Bingham East, Bingham West, Cotgrave, Keyworth, Radcliffe-on-Trent
8/5/25	2.00pm	Rushcliffe	Leake and Ruddington, West Bridgford North, West Bridgford West, West Bridgford South

Following each acceptance of office appointment, Councillors will then be provided with their ICT equipment.

It is therefore very important that you are available ON THE RELEVANT DAY in the week commencing 6 May to enable this.