Your October Compliance Update |
| This month:
£100+ Donations ~ Chairpersons ~ SARs ~ AGMs ~ Local Elections ~ Campaign Hub |
 September PPERA Return The September donation report is due by 10th October (including nil returns).
If the treasurer is away, it falls on the chairperson to complete the return.
Don’t forget to click the final “submit” button to finalise the return!
Donation queries: Lighthouse help: | |
 Logging donations & gifts of £100+ Logging donations in Lighthouse of £100+ might seem like a chore but for many of our parties / groups, it has saved considerable work recently.
Some Treasurers will be aware that we are dealing with an investigation by the Electoral Commission into over 100 Lib Dem organisations and the donation values shown in their 2025 year end accounts.
For those parties / groups who were already entering all donations / gifts of £100+, we have often had the information to respond without needing to trouble you further.
Regularly recording amounts of £100+ (including all councillor tithes) gives a fuller picture of your income and will save you stress when the Commission is making inquiries.
For further guidance on donations, kindly refer to the following: | | | | Please email compliance@libdems.org.uk if you have any questions. | |
 Chairs and Treasurers Under our constitution and as per the registration with the Electoral Commission, Chairpersons (Convenors in Scotland) and Treasurers are both equally responsible for compliance. The Treasurer takes the lead and the Chair is their backup.
If the Treasurer is on holiday or off sick, the Chairperson must fulfill Treasurer duties until their return, meeting the reporting deadlines. The Chair can delegate the work but remains responsible for all compliance tasks. It is essential that Treasurers and Chairs regularly keep each other in the loop regarding compliance matters.
Chairpersons should familiarise themselves with the compliance guidance, including our Donation FAQs. Chairs need to have access to all the resources the Treasurer has, such as online banking, bookkeeping, Lighthouse for reporting donations etc.
We should stress that all bookkeeping must be done in line with data protection rules, i.e. not on a spreadsheet stored only on the Treasurer’s computer, but accessible in a secure manner. Ideally, use online software like Xero which HQ supplies at a discount, or similar approved online software like Sage or Quickbooks. Some Treasurers use the paid for (and therefore more secure) version of Google / Microsoft Office to send a spreadsheet to their Chair.
In the unfortunate event of a Treasurer being hospitalised or passing away, we are all too often seeing that the Chairperson / Convenor does not have the necessary access. Their party / group then becomes non-compliant with its monthly donation returns and end of year reporting, due to the misconception that the finances are a matter solely for Treasurers.
The Compliance Team at Lib Dem HQ are here to help you meet your legal obligations. Do refer to the training guides linked above and don’t hesitate to email compliance@libdems.org.uk if you have any questions. We offer one-to-one appointments, as well as monthly Zoom clinics. | |
Subject Access Requests (SARs) | | As part of our standard process for SARs / DSARs, the Data Protection Team sometimes has to reach out to local parties and groups directly for information because we do not have access to some data you may process about individuals locally.
We only have a statutory window of one month to action these and need your help to keep the Party on the right side of the law. When we contact officers and exec members, it is crucial that you get back to us swiftly, by the deadline specified. Regardless of whether you know the individual or not - even if you do not find anything in your search results - we still require a reply to confirm you have carried out a check.
The Information Commission takes non-compliance of individuals’ data rights seriously, particularly concerning SARs.
A general reminder that if you receive a SAR or any other data protection request locally, these need to be handled by us centrally. Please forward the following to data.protection@libdems.org.uk promptly as we have a statutory one-month deadline to action these: | - Data protection complaints and queries
- Right to Erasure / Right to be Forgotten requests (RTBF)
- Do Not Contacts / Opt Outs (beyond local level)
- Subject Access Requests (SARs)
- Deceased notifications
- Data breaches (report to us within 24 hours)
| | Thank you for your help with this; do email data.protection@libdems.org.uk if you have any questions.
For more about SARs and data subject rights, here are some useful guides: | | | |
 Your AGM Yes, it’s that time of year - here are some things to consider for the AGM and after your officers have been chosen.
1) Notify HQ of your Lighthouse superusers for the new year
You can do this by either: - Using the “duplicate all roles” button on Lighthouse (> Roles > System Users), or;
- Emailing the Tech Team: support@libdems.org.uk
| | 2) List your 2027 officers on Lighthouse
Superusers need to do this urgently so role-holders don’t miss out on important information. Also, we need to inform the Electoral Commission of who your Chair and Treasurer will be.
3) Data protection training
New appointees / existing officers needing a refresher after 12 months are encouraged to complete our online UK GDPR training. Also, the person responsible for personal data in your local party / group should complete the Data Protection Checklist if there has been significant changes in personnel and / or processes.
Please see our resources below to help run a successful event and complete important post-AGM actions: | |
 Local Election Agent Training We are running another stream of modular agent training for the very large set of local elections across Wales, Scotland and much of England in 2027.
Registration is via the Party’s training and events website and all of the sessions will be recorded and made available on the Campaign Hub.
Whilst there will be specific sessions covering differences in election law between the nations, the programme starts with two general webinars. The first is for anyone wanting to learn more about what the role of an agent entails. Book now by clicking on the hyperlinks below.
2026: | | 2027: - Monday 11th January, 8pm - Understanding Election Limits and Spending (Scotland & Wales)
- Monday 18th January, 8pm - Understanding Election Limits and Spending (England)
- Monday 1st February, 8pm - Understanding Defamation and Libel (England & Wales)
- Monday 8th February, 8pm - Understanding Defamation and Libel (Scotland)
- Monday 1st March, 8pm - All You Need to Know About Nominations (Scotland & Wales)
- Monday 8th March, 8pm - All You Need to Know About Nominations (England)
- Sunday 2nd May, 8pm - Winning at The Count (England & Wales)
- Monday 17th May, 8pm - How to Submit Your Election Expenses (England)
- Monday 24th May, 8pm - How to Submit Your Election Expenses (Scotland & Wales)
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Conference Training Slides / Campaign Hub |
| Thanks to those who joined our sessions in Brighton, which included: Data Protection; Treasurer Essentials; Annual Accounts & Corporation Tax; Election Agents; Campaigning & Compliance; plus Defamation & Libel.
Copies of the presentations can be found here.
NOTE: you need to be signed up to the Campaign Hub in order to access these (using the email address your membership is registered to). Join here if you haven't already. |
Compliance Clinic | | Mon 19th October, 6 - 7pm
Join us every third Monday of the month to discuss any Compliance / Data Protection queries you may have.
Email compliance@libdems.org.uk for the Zoom link or a one-to-one appointment. | |
 | Your Resources |
 | Simon Drage
Deputy Head of Technology and Compliance
Liberal Democrats | | |
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