Increase in cost of running Wolverhampton's 'all-out' local elections
The overall cost of running Wolverhampton’s ‘all-out’ elections in May, when each of the city’s 60 council seats will be contested, has increased, local authority bosses said.
Civic leaders will have to meet a range of fees, charges and expenses incurred in paying council and non-council employees for undertaking election duties, expenses for printing notices, poll cards, ballot papers and postal packs, hiring polling station venues and conducting the count.
The majority of fees have been kept at the same rate as 2021-2022 for a standalone election, except for polling staff pay and training fees to reflect the additional responsibilities as a result of the Elections Act 2022.
One significant change to the ballot is the introduction of voter ID, which will require all electors to produce a form of photo identification, such as a passport, driving licence, immigration document or PASS card, to be eligible to vote.
This year’s elections will also be conducted in accordance with the new ward boundaries which come in to force on polling day, Thursday, May 4, following the Local Government Boundary Commission review.
In a report to the council’s governance and ethics committee, electoral services and scrutiny manager Laura Noonan said: “Presiding officer pay is proposed to increase by £20 and polling station Inspectors by £10 to reflect additional responsibilities of making an assessment on photo ID.
“There will also be a £30 payment made to each count assistant for training due to the complexity of the multi-member count. Count assistants are not usually paid a training fee or required to attend a mock count.
“There will be a £20 uplift for each presiding officer’s pay due to a one-off longer training session to cover all of the new measures.
"Poll clerk pay is proposed to be increased by £15 to £175 so that it is line with the national living wage of £10.42 an hour, as no pay rate equates to less than the national living wage.
“The budget set aside to cover the cost of local elections each year has been £192,000.
"This has worked effectively over the last few years, but a combination of current and future cost pressures recently reviewed now indicate that a significant increase in the budget is required to fund elections moving forwards.
“These pressures include increased polling station costs due to greater use of private venues and temporary polling stations in place of schools, increases in polling station hire against a background of rising energy prices, Royal Mail postage charge increases, higher poll letter costs compared to poll cards and increases in staffing fees in line with national living wage rates.
"The budget is set to increase to £277,000 in 2023-24.”
The council’s governance and ethics committee will discuss the new fees and charges on Thursday, March 16.
