Police and Crime Commissioner Election 2024

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are democratically elected every four years.

The next scheduled election is due to take place on Thursday 2 May 2024.

A Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) is responsible for the overall conduct of the election in a particular area. Their roles include:

• Liaising with candidate and agents
• Collation of the election result following the verification and counting of votes

Caerphilly County Borough Council has been appointed as the lead PARO authority for the Gwent police area. 

Timetable of key events

Register to vote

To vote in a PCC election you must:

• Be registered to vote be 18 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’)
• Be a British, Irish, Commonwealth or EU citizen
• Be resident at an address in England or Wales (excluding London)
• Not be legally excluded from voting

You can register to vote online: Register to vote.

The deadline to register is midnight on Tuesday 16 April 2024.

If you are not sure whether you are already registered to vote, please contact the Electoral Services office: 

• Bargoed House, 1 St Gwladys Way, Bargoed, CF81 8AB
• Email: electoralservices@caerphilly.gov.uk
• Telephone: 01443 866586

Postal voting

If you need to vote by post in this election, please visit Voting by Post to apply.

The deadline to apply for a postal vote, or to cancel or amend an existing postal vote at this election is 5pm on Wednesday 17 April.

New postal vote handling rules 

New rules have been introduced around handling postal votes:

• There will be a limit on the number of postal votes a person can hand in at a polling station or at the council offices
• You will not be allowed to hand in more than five postal ballot packs for other electors plus your own (6 in total)
• If a person hands in more than five postal ballot packs for other electors, all the postal votes (other than their own) will be rejected
• Anyone handing in postal votes will need to complete a ‘return of postal voting documents’ form
• We can no longer accept postal votes left in the letterbox at the council offices
• Any postal votes which are left at any council building without the ‘return of postal voting documents’ form being completed will be rejected
• We recommend that postal votes are returned to us via Royal Mail as soon as possible before polling day

Proxy voting

If you would like someone else to vote on your behalf at this election, please visit Voting by Proxy to apply.

The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 5pm Wednesday 24 April.

If after 5pm on the 24 April you find yourself unable to vote in person, due to medical or work reasons, you may be entitled to apply for an emergency proxy vote.

Please contact the Electoral Services team for further information. 

Voter identification

It is now a requirement to present an accepted form of identification when voting at the polling station for police and crime commissioner elections.

For more information, including the types of accepted ID and Voter Authority Certificates visit our Voter ID page. Thanks to Torfaen County Borough Council for producing this video about Voter ID:

The role of Police and Crime Commissioners

Police and Crime Commissioners are elected by the public to hold the Chief Constable and the force to account. Effectively, this makes the police answerable to the communities they serve.

They work in partnership across a range of agencies at local and national level to ensure there is a unified approach to preventing and reducing crime.

Find more information on the role of the Commissioner and their role and responsibilities.

Information for prospective candidates

Extensive guidance and resources for candidates and agents can be found on the Electoral Commission website. This includes:

• What you need to know before standing for election
• Candidate spending
• Campaigning
• Nominations
• Postal votes
• Polling day
• Verification and count
• After the election

Nomination forms are available here: Electoral Commission

Election Notices are available here: Caerphilly - Caerphilly County Borough

Candidate briefing documents

The Home Office has also published a series of briefing documents which PCC candidates may wish to refer to as a reference source.