The purpose of this decision is to approve the award of contract for the provision of a comprehensive Electoral Management System (EMS) to Democracy Counts, following the completion of a procurement exercise. The new EMS will support the Electoral Registration Officer in delivering all statutory electoral registration functions and the full range of electoral events, including day-to-day registration activity, the annual canvass, and the administration of scheduled and unscheduled electoral processes.
This decision enables the Council to secure a system that meets the specified operational, statutory, and data-protection requirements; ensures business continuity in the delivery of a critical statutory service; and provides a cost-effective and robust solution aligned with the timelines necessary continue to support electoral delivery from September 2026 onwards. The initial contract value is £33,750 in year one and £32,750 in year two, with an option to extend. Funding for this will come from the existing Electoral Registration budget allocated for a system, a reallocation of IT funding to reflect the move to a supplier hosted cloud service under the new contract, and an adjustment for inflation since the previous procurement exercise. All of these elements have been reviewed and agreed through internal consultation prior to awarding the contract.
Legal services have been consulted to oversee changes to the standard contract where required and these changes have been discussed and approved by the supplier.
The Council’s role in respect of Electoral Registration and Election matters tends to be limited to the provision of resources, either by statute or by agreement. As such, there is no Executive function for which responsibility would be allocated to a particular Cabinet Member.

To award Democracy Counts with a contract to provide its hosted Electoral Management Software to the Council in order to be a resource for the Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer to utilise.

To authorise the signing and sealing of the service contract with that Company on the agreed terms.

Due to the timelines associated with Local Government Reorganisation, it has been necessary to structure the contract with an initial two-year term, followed by the option to extend for a further two years in one-year increments. This approach provides the flexibility required to accommodate the merging of electoral services teams that would take place on reorganisation and the adaptation of processes, and systems across the current Council. In addition, we have proactively explored the potential for the contract to be extended to incorporate additional authorities as part of this wider reorganisation. The supplier has confirmed they are willing to support such expansions, subject to the contractual revisions outlined within the agreement.