Individual Electoral Registration (IER) is the voter registration system which took effect from 10 June 2014 in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

and from 19 September 2014 in Scotland.Gov.uk, 18 December 2013
/ref> Under the previous system, the "head of the household" was required to register all residents of the household who are eligible. Under the new system individuals are required to register themselves, as well as provide their National Insurance number and date of birth on the application form so that their identity can be verified.

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, 18 December 2013

/ref>

Background

The Westminster government had introduced IER to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in 2002 in the

Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 The Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 (2002 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which reformed the electoral system in Northern Ireland. The act amended the Representation of the People Act 1983 by strengthening the ...

, but England, Wales and Scotland continued to use a system of householder registration.

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

, September 15, 2010
Individual voter ID plan brought forward to 2014
/ref> The UK's politically independent

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

had been pushing for such a reform for some time.Polly Curtiss, Whitehall Correspondent, The Guardian, 15 September 2010
New voter registration rules to be introduced
/ref> In September 2010,

Mark Harper Mark James Harper (born 26 February 1970) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Transport since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Me ...

, the government's Minister for Constitutional Reform, announced the plan. A spokesman for the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...

, an independent

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, expressed some reservations: "You're potentially looking at registration rates in the 50% region. It will make some problems worse.". One recent study has also suggested that it will lead to a decline in electoral registration, unless other measures are put in place to offset these reductions.

Transition

The Government has stated that 35 million voters will be transferred to the new system automatically as their identity can be verified using the

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database. The remainder will be required to prove their identity in order to remain on the electoral register.

, 25 October 2013

/ref> Those who were added to the register under the previous system were not removed until after the general election in May 2015.

Legislation

The Cameron–Clegg coalition, Cameron government introduced the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill 2012 in the

Queen's Speech A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or a representative thereof, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a Legislative session, session is ...

in May, 2012Cabinet Office, May 9, 2012
THE QUEEN’S SPEECH 2012 – BRIEFING NOTES
{{Webarchive, url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120818025257/https%3A//update.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Queens%2DSpeech%2D2012%2Dbriefing%2Dnotes.pdf , date=2012-08-18 in order to provide for the introduction of compulsory IER for those wishing to vote by post or by proxy in 2014, and compulsory IER for all registrations by 2015. The Bill passed swiftly through the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

and saw its

second reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming, ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

on 24 July 2012, having been introduced for the Coalition by the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

peer,

Lord Wallace of Saltaire William John Lawrence Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, (born 12 March 1941 in Leicester), is a British academic, writer, and Liberal Democrat politician, who was a Lord in Waiting from 2010 to 2015. Early life Wallace was educated at Westmi ...

.Houses of Parliament, Parliamentary business news, 25 July 2012
Electoral Registration and Administration Bill
/ref> It passed committee stage on 14 January 2013, and received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 31 January 2013 thereby passing into law as the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013.Electoral Registration and Administration Bill 2012-13
/ref>

References

External links

Text of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013
Electoral reform in the United Kingdom