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<p>Funding for the annual household canvass and year round electoral registration
(in addition to funding for polls at a local level) is paid for by the local authority
using monies from the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) provided through MHCLG and the revenue
raised by the authority through council tax, business rates and any reserves. This
provides the majority of the funding for electoral registration.</p><p>Since the transition
to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in 2014, central Government has provided
annual direct funding to local authorities to cover the additional costs of IER compared
to the previous household system.</p><p>Since 2015/16, five years of annual funding
has been provided by Cabinet Office to cover these additional costs, totalling £96M
to date. It is expected that planned reform of the annual canvass of electors will
significantly reduce the overall cost of registration. The Government is not therefore
minded to make an assessment of the potential merits of ring-fencing IER grant funding.</p><p>Electoral
Registration Officers are responsible for delivering electoral registration services
and securing funding from the local authorities that appoint them. It is for local
authorities to decide how they allocate their budgets.</p>
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