{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/representation-of-the-people-act-1983/section-40",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/representation-of-the-people-act-1983/section-40.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1983/2",
  "legislation_title": "Representation of the People Act 1983",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/representation-of-the-people-act-1983",
  "path": "section/40",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "40",
  "heading": "Timing as to local elections in England and Wales.",
  "text": "(1) When the day on which anything is required to be done by section 37 , section 37ZA or section 39 above ... or section 3 of the 1999 Act is a Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, . . . Good Friday, bank holiday or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning, the requirement shall be deemed to relate to the first day thereafter which is not one of the days specified above.\n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(2) Where under subsection (1) above the day of election is postponed, the day to which it is postponed shall be treated for the purposes of this Act and the Local Government Act 1972 and (in the case of an Authority election) the 1999 Act as the day of election.\n(3) In computing any period of time for the purpose of any rules under section 36 or section 36A above or for the purposes of section 39 any day specified in subsection (1) shall be disregarded; but where between the giving of a notice of election and the completion of the poll a day is declared to be a bank holiday or day of public thanksgiving or mourning, the foregoing provision, so far as it relates to any such rules, shall not operate to invalidate any act which would have been valid apart from that provision.\nThis subsection, so far as it relates to any such rules, has effect subject to the provisions of those rules.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "S. 17(1) substituted (29.1.2001 for certain purposes and 16.2.2001 otherwise) by 2000 c. 2, s. 8(a), Sch. 1 para. 10; S.I. 2001/116, art. 2(1)(2) (with art. 2(4))"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in s. 40(1) inserted (10.3.2022) by The Local Elections (Miscellaneous and Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/263), regs. 1(2), 5(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in s. 40(1) omitted (2.4.2013) by virtue of Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (c. 6), ss. 15(3), 27(1); S.I. 2013/702, art. 3(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in s. 40(1) inserted (14.12.1999) by 1999 c. 29, s. 17, Sch. 3 para. 7(1)(2) (with Sch. 12 para. 9(1)); S.I. 1999/3376, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words substituted by Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50, SIF 42), s. 19(1)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in s. 40(1) repealed (1.1.2007 for E.W.S. and 1.7.2008 for N.I.) by Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c. 22), ss. 20, 74(2), 77, Sch. 1 para. 50, Sch. 2; S.I. 2006/3412, art. 3, Sch. 1 para. 14(g)(aa)(bb)(ii)(cc)(v) (subject to transitional provisions in art. 6, Sch. 2); S.I. 2008/1316, arts. 2, 4"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Words repealed by Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50, SIF 42), ss. 19(1)(b), 28, Sch. 5"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "The words “and the Local Government Act 1972” now stand in the text by virtue of the Education Reform Act 1988 (c. 40, SIF 41:1), ss. 231(7), 235(6), 237, Sch. 12 Pt. II para. 51"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words in s. 40(2) inserted (14.12.1999) by 1999 c. 29, s. 17, Sch. 3 para. 7(1)(3) (with Sch. 12 para. 9(1)); S.I. 1999/3376, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Words in s. 40(3) inserted (E.W.) (20.3.2021) by Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (asc 1), s. 175(3)(f), Sch. 2 para. 2(8)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1972 c. 70."
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "S. 40 applied (with modifications) (27.3.2007) by The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1024), Sch. 2 Table 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C2",
      "text": "S. 40(3) applied (E.W.S.) by Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50, SIF 42), s. 21(3)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2/section/40",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-07T03:33:48.049414+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."
}