The electoral register and the 'open register'

Who can access the electoral register?

General public

In person at Castle House

Anyone can visit us at Castle House in Newcastle town centre to view any part of the register under supervision. You should first call us on 01782 717717 to make an appointment. An appointment will give you a 30-minute period to view the register.

Please note: the electoral register is separated into wards. Within those wards are polling districts and streets. The electoral register is not kept in alphabetical name order. Be aware that your search is of a register containing over 90,000 names.

By phone

As well as the above, anyone can phone us about a particular entry on the register. However, we can only confirm whether a named person does or doesn't live at a given address. If the caller wants to know who lives at an address but doesn't have a matching name, we won't give out the details of the person registered at that property.

Other organisations and officers

Under the Representation of the People Regulations 2001, we must also supply a copy of the full register to the following bodies automatically:

  • The British Library
  • The Office for National Statistics
  • Electoral Commission
  • Boundary Commission
  • Returning Officer for the registration area concerned
  • Area Returning Officer for a shared constituency at a parliamentary election

The following people/bodies are also entitled to request one copy of the full register during its 'shelf life' (between 1 December and 30 November of the following year):

  • local MPs
  • councillors
  • Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
  • parish councils
  • election candidates
  • nominated persons of a registered political party
  • holders of a relevant electoral office
  • registered political parties
  • police

Any person or body from the above list must make their request in writing to the Electoral Registration Officer. The register is available free of charge and supplied in connection with electoral purposes to facilitate the democratic process, and for the purposes of security, law enforcement and crime prevention. It may also be sold to government departments for security, law enforcement and crime prevention purposes, and to credit reference agencies for money laundering and credit assessment checks.

Credit reference agencies

We do supply copies of the full register (with markers indicating who has 'opted out') to credit reference agencies for a fee. Most of the credit reference agencies request the full register from us, together with a list of monthly updates to it, which show any recent householder changes that have been notified to us. We can't vouch for how soon these agencies update their records once we've sent data to them, and we can't get involved directly with any individual elector disputes where agencies say they can't find electors on their records. We will however supply a 'confirmation of residency' letter containing a poll number to the elector, which they can send to credit reference agencies, banks, etc. as proof of their registration.

Further information

For further information on access to the register, please contact the Electoral Commission:

  • Postal address: Trevelyan House, Great Peter Street, London, SW1P 2HW