Costs of holding Election on a Sunday
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WQ.407/2025
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIR OF THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES
COMMITTEE
BY DEPUTY SIR P.M. BAILHACHE OF ST. CLEMENT
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 3rd NOVEMBER 2025
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 10th NOVEMBER 2025
Question
"In relation to the £269,000 allocated to the Judicial Greffe for the 2026 Election as set out in the Proposed Annex - Budget 2026-2029 (p. 66), P.17/2025 indicated that PPC considered that there would be a "slight increase" in the administrative cost of holding the election on a Sunday, however, as that extra cost was not addressed during the debate on the proposition on 1st April 2025 will the Chair advise how much of the cost is attributable to the move to a Sunday election and state whether, in his consideration, that increase is "slight"?"
Answer
Whilst PPC is not able to comment directly on the sum requested by the Judicial Greffe, as that falls outside of our remit, we can advise that the majority of the £269,000 allocation is intended to meet the usual costs of administering the elections, most notably the resourcing costs for postal and pre-poll voting. We understand that only a small part of the allocation will be used to meet any Judicial Greffe staff overtime costs which might be incurred as a consequence of having to work on Sunday 7th June 2026 and over that weekend in preparation for the poll. It should be noted that even before the decision to move to a Sunday election, it was always anticipated that the resourcing costs for postal voting would be higher than in previous elections, to reflect an expected increase in the popularity of that method of voting.
In respect of additional costs, the decision to hold elections on a Sunday will likely place a burden on the Parish authorities in relation to the payment of overtime for any of their staff required to work over the weekend.