Edited Electoral Register

The edited electoral register is an important resource for fundraising organisations in terms of effective targetting and ensure contact details are up to date.

Last year, the Institute directly lobbied members of the House of Lords in order to counter a proposed amendment to abolish the use of the edited electoral register. The proposed policy change would have meant that charities no longer having access to the edited electoral register.

As a result of lobbying activity by the Institute – which was also supported by a number of other organisations – the amendment was not passed. Instead, it was decided to go out to consultation on the matter in order to ‘go out to a wider audience, including businesses, charities and the public’ so that the impact of abolishing the edited register could be fully understood before any firm decision is made.

The Ministry of Justice opened a consultation until 23 February 2010 on the future of the Edited Register and will consider the way forward on the basis of the responses they receive. Copies of the consultation may be accessed online.

Institute Response

We are extremely concerned about the proposals to abolish the Edited Register as it is the biggest source of accurate data of the UK population and their home address.

The data enables charities to fundraise more effectively through improved accuracy as well as helping to reduce junk mail. Charities are able to verify the information they hold on their databases and check new donors' details. If access to this data was removed, mail is more likely to be wrongly addressed, annoying potential donors which can lower their inclination to support the charity.

Such inaccuracies can increase the costs of fundraising for charities as more mailings are wasted, at a time when pressures on fundraising are already high.

The Mail Preference Service already serves to allow people to opt-out of mailings so it is not believed that removing access to the Edited Register would reduce junk mail. On the contrary, in fact.

To avoid the alleged confusion for people who do not understand how to opt-out of the Edited Register, we believe clearly information should be given to the public.

Read the Institute's full consultation response.