{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-and-crime-commissioner-elections-order-2012/schedule-2/paragraph-9A",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-and-crime-commissioner-elections-order-2012/schedule-2/paragraph-9A.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2012/1917",
  "legislation_title": "The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-and-crime-commissioner-elections-order-2012",
  "path": "schedule/2/paragraph/9A",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "9A",
  "heading": "Offence of handling postal voting documents by political campaigners",
  "text": "(1) A person who is a political campaigner in respect of a PCC election commits an offence if the person handles a postal voting document that has been issued to another person for use in that election.\n(2) But a person who handles a postal voting document for use in a PCC election does not commit the offence if—\n(a) the person is responsible for, or assists with, the conduct of that election (for example as a police area returning officer or a local returning officer or a person working under the direction of such an officer),\n(b) the person is engaged in the business of a postal operator, or\n(c) the person is employed or engaged in a role the duties of which include the handling of postal packets on behalf of members of an organisation or the occupants of a communal building,\nand the handling is consistent with the person’s duties in that capacity.\n(3) Nor does a person commit the offence if the person—\n(a) is the other person’s spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild, or\n(b) provides regular care for, or is employed or engaged by an organisation which provides care for, the other person.\n(4) It is a defence for a person charged with the offence to show that the person did not dishonestly handle the postal voting document for the purpose of promoting a particular outcome at a PCC election.\n(5) Where sufficient evidence is adduced to raise an issue with respect to the defence under sub-paragraph (4), the court must assume that the defence is satisfied unless the prosecution proves beyond reasonable doubt that it is not.\n(6) A person is guilty of a corrupt practice if the person—\n(a) commits the offence under sub-paragraph (1), or\n(b) aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of that offence.\n(7) For the purposes of this paragraph a person is a political campaigner in respect of a PCC election if any of the following applies—\n(a) the person is a candidate at the election;\n(b) the person is an election agent of a candidate at the election;\n(c) the person is a sub-agent of a person within paragraph (b);\n(d) the person is employed or engaged by a person who is a candidate at the election for the purposes of that person’s activities as a candidate;\n(e) the person is a member of a registered political party and carries on an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election;\n(f) the person is employed or engaged by a registered political party in connection with the party’s political activities;\n(g) the person is employed or engaged by a person within any of paragraphs (a) to (f) to carry on an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election;\n(h) the person is employed or engaged by a person within paragraph (g) to carry on an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election.\n(8) In this paragraph—\n“postal operator” has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Postal Services Act 2011;\n“postal voting document” has the meaning given in article 2(1) but also includes an envelope that has been issued to a person for the purpose of enabling the person to vote by post at a PCC election.\n(9) For the purposes of this paragraph, an envelope—\n(a) that is not a postal voting document within the meaning of sub-paragraph (8), but\n(b) that contains a postal ballot paper or postal voting statement that has been issued to a person for the purpose of enabling the person to vote by post at a PCC election,\nis to be treated as if it were a postal voting document that has been issued to the person for use in the election.\n(10) In this paragraph, any reference to a person who is “engaged” by another person, or to a person who provides care for another person, includes a reference to a person who is engaged or provides care otherwise than for payment or promise of payment.\n(11) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3)(a), two people living together as if they were a married couple or civil partners are treated as if they were spouses or civil partners of each other.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Sch. 2 para. 9A inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(a)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2025/1331",
      "affecting_title": "The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Consequential and Other Amendments) Regulations 2025"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2025/1331",
      "affecting_title": "The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Consequential and Other Amendments) Regulations 2025"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1917/schedule/2/paragraph/9A",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T01:24:32.209917+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}