Voting and registering to vote

You can register to vote if you:

• are 18 years-old – 16 and 17 year-olds can only register if they will be 18 within the lifetime of the electoral register
• live at your address for at least 6 months of the year
• are a British, Irish, European Union or Commonwealth citizen

Individual electoral registration

Individual electoral registration means:

• you can register online
• everyone is responsible for registering themselves – unlike the old system where the 'head of every household' could register everyone who lived at their address

Register to vote on the GOV.UK website. Fill in your name, address, date of birth and other details. You will need your National Insurance number, which you can find on your National Insurance card, or on payslips or letters about benefits or tax credits.

Most people who are already registered to vote will not have to register again online. We will write to tell you if you need to do anything.

GOV.UK: register to vote

You will get confirmation to say you're registered.

Go to The Electoral Commission website to find out more about who can register to vote.

Students

If you're a student and have different home and term time addresses, you can register at both addresses and vote in both locations for local government elections.

You can vote in only one location for UK and European Parliamentary elections.

British citizens living outside of the UK

If you're a British citizen living abroad you can vote for 15 years from the date you were last on the register of electors in the UK.

Service voters

If you are a member of the armed forces, a Crown servant or a British Council employee you can register as either an ordinary voter or a service voter.