Explanatory note

This Order makes provision as to the time when, and the manner and form in which, accounts are to be submitted for the purpose of the payment of returning officers’ charges.

This Order is made under article 23 of the Senedd Cymru (Representation of the People) Order 2025 (S.I. 2025/864) (W. 150) (“2025 Order”). Under article 23(1) of the 2025 Order returning officers are entitled to recover charges in respect of expenses incurred for, or in connection with, a Senedd election. Under article 23(2) of the 2025 Order returning officers are entitled to recover charges on behalf of electoral administrators in respect of services rendered for, or in connection with, a Senedd election. Both types of charge must be necessarily incurred for the efficient and effective conduct of the election.

The maximum charges recoverable for each Senedd constituency are set out in the Senedd Cymru (Returning Officers’ Charges) Order 2026.

Article 23(4)(d) of the 2025 Order places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to make, by Order, provisions as to the time when, and the manner and form in which, returning officers must submit their accounts to the Welsh Ministers to recover their charges.

Article 3 specifies that an account must be submitted within 6 months beginning with the day on which the Senedd election to which the account relates is held.

Article 4 specifies the form of accounts to be submitted to the Welsh Ministers, and provides that the account must separately list each charge incurred.

Article 5 provides that any account submitted under this Order must be submitted together with a receipt in respect of each expense incurred by a returning officer, and a certificate. Provision is made for the form of words to be used in the certificate.

Article 6 provides that a returning officer may submit an account to recover some of the charges that the returning officer is entitled to recover. This is known as an incomplete account. Article 6 specifies that an incomplete account must be as complete as possible and sets out the additional information that must also be submitted to the Welsh Ministers alongside the incomplete account.

Article 7 specifies the additional information that must be submitted to the Welsh Ministers when a returning officer is requesting charges in excess of the maximum amounts set out in article 3 of, and column 4 of the Schedule to, the Senedd Cymru (Returning Officers’ Charges) Order 2026.

The previous accounts regulations, the Senedd Cymru (Returning Officers’ Accounts) Regulations 2021 (WG21-27), were revoked, subject to certain savings provisions, on 18 July 2025 by the 2025 Order.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to this Order. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with this Order.