All Political Parties, including the Co-operative Party, must report any donations received to the Electoral Commission at the end of each quarter.  This includes grants from the Society, unless your grant has come via Head Office (for example, Co-operative Group Parties), and also donations ‘in kind’, e.g. free or cheap use of meeting rooms.

If your Party Council or Branch has received any donations over £500 during  this quarter (1 October-31 December), please make sure that you notify Emma Foody by Friday 26 January.  We need to know the date the donation was received, recipient (i.e. which Party or branch), donor and amount.

Remember – if you receive a donation of £500 or more other than from your Society you must always let us know straight away – don’t wait for the end of the quarter.  This is because we need to check that the donor is permissible.

Failure to report donations in the appropriate quarter is an Electoral Offence. It is therefore extremely important to make sure you advise us of any donations of over £500 so they can be properly reported, or the Party could be sanctioned by the Electoral Commission.

Please contact Emma if you are not sure what you need to do.