The principles within this document clarify payments made to staff thereby ensuring that arrangements are consistent, transparent and robust. These principles have been adopted by the Returning Officer for Harrow.
Source of funding for elections in England vary according to the type of election. The costs of running UK Parliamentary general elections and European Parliamentary elections are provided by Ministry of Justice. They set the fees to be paid to the Returning Officer.
The costs of local elections, to include by-elections are met through local authority budgets, as provided by Section 36 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
A scale of fees for Returning Officers, polling station and count staff is set annually by London Councils, which Harrow follow.
The legal and financial responsibilities of the Returning Officer for the conduct of elections are personal.
The Council is required to place the services of its officers at the disposal of the Returning Officer. He or she may in writing appoint one or more Deputy Returning Officers to discharge any or all of his or her functions.
During elections there is a large number of general clerical tasks to be completed, for which an hourly rate is paid, based on the Harrow equivalent figure.
Core election staff
A flat fee is paid to all core staff based on the anticipated out-of-office hours that they are expected to work during the election period. The fee is based on the rate of evening, weekend and bank holiday pay. It covers the various jobs undertaken e.g. postal voting; poll cards; ballot boxes; the count etc.
Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) Appointment
Legislation requires that the Returning Officer appointments a Deputy Returning Officer (DRO). The appointed DRO receives payment for the role equivalent to 50% of the Returning Officer's fee.