UK: Failure to join the electoral register could get you an £80 fine??

Hit and run post as very busy right now but this has annoyed mew somewhat.

I had a letter through today saying that I need to fill in a form to enable me to vote and failure to fill in the forms and return them within 14 days could result in an £80 fine.

I will return the form but was under the assumption that registering to vote was an option but the threat of a fine suggests otherwise.

I am a little confused as they already have my name and address so why the need for forms and threats?

a reply to: nonspecific

I believe it has nothing to do with being able to vote.

If you are on the Electoral Register it is easier to track you down. I think this is the real reason.

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: nonspecific

I believe it has nothing to do with being able to vote.

If you are on the Electoral Register it is easier to track you down. I think this is the real reason.

My thought exactly. It is a strangely worded letter as it says "may" be liable for a fine and not "will" be.

Sounds like an empty threat to scare people into registering.

It might be coincidence but I also had a letter from the council saying that I have an outstanding invoice for a benefit overpayment in 2009 payable in 14 days.

When I spoke to them they said that due to staff shortages they had not been able to look into overpayments for the past six years but have now received funding to put together a claim and get around 8 million in overpayments back.

Seems like a bit of a coincidence to me.

The information goes on to a database that is sold to credit agencies and debt collection firms.

So if you have any defaulted debts expect to be contacted shortly after returning the form.

It really isn't anything to do with voting.

www.gov.uk...

This page will give you some official info, but not any reasoning behind their decision making process.

originally posted by: Nexttimemaybe
The information goes on to a database that is sold to credit agencies and debt collection firms.

So if you have any defaulted debts expect to be contacted shortly after returning the form.

It really isn't anything to do with voting.

Well I have a lot of outstanding debts from a few years ago....

So do I fail to register to vote and loose my right to vote and pay a small fine or do I exercise my legal right to vote and get hammered by the banks?

It could be a clever way of getting people to not vote.

a reply to: nonspecific

If you get chased for the debts message me.. I will sort you a CCA request which in most cases means you will never pay the debt back. I've had thousands written off in a previous life.

originally posted by: and14263
a reply to: nonspecific

If you get chased for the debts message me.. I will sort you a CCA request which in most cases means you will never pay the debt back. I've had thousands written off in a previous life.

It's quite a big debt, I overdrew with Lloyds TSB when a direct debit went up and went £2.27 into an unauthorised overdraft. I was on holiday for 3 weeks at the time and when I got back they had charged me £25 and £10 per day with compound interest for 19 days meaning I owed them about £230 for £2.27.

I said I could only pay £50 a week back and they said that they would continue to charge me £10 per day 7 days a week so I would be getting deeper into debt even by paying it back and told them to sod off.

They have been charging me £10 a day 365 days a year since 2008 with compound interest.

I have no idea how much I owe them now.

About £30k not including the interest all for £2.27p.

a reply to: nonspecific
I haven't checked, but I think you will find that being on the register has always been a legal obligation.
This came up in the "Poll Tax" era, when people were (wrongfully) assuming that not paying would deprive them of the right to vote, and also (wrongfully) assuming that not being on the register would take away the obligation to pay.

People who don't send the form back are making the process more expensive, because somebody has to be employed to make house calls and chase them up, so the "fine" is a way of recouping part of the cost.

(incidentally, you have the option of taking your name off the publicly visible version of the register, as I have done, which makes it more difficult for people to trace you on it)

a reply to: nonspecific

Regarding the matter of the £80 fine, this was being discussed as far back as 2012, and from the sounds of things the measure passed. The measure was touted as being conducive to reducing fraudulent voting, which was allowed for in previous versions of the voter registration rules. Essentially the difference is that now every member of the household has to register separately, rather than the head of household doing it on behalf of the whole unit.

To be honest, it sounded like BS back then, but an eighty pound fine is an eighty pound fine, BS or not.

On the matter of benefits overpayment, there is good news and their is bad news. The bad news is that unlike every other kind of debt, which expires after six years if you have not acknowledged that debt, an overpayment of benefits can be chased without limitation of time. If you are on any benefits now, the government may reclaim the owed amount from your current benefits package, and if not, they can chase you for it the old fashioned way.

That being said, all but debt owed to government, expires after six years, UNLESS you made an acknowledgement of the debt at any point during that six years since the debt was raised.

a reply to: nonspecific

The £10/day after you have offered to pay back the debt is unfair so unenforceable. I would not know the exact section to quote on this but it will certainly not be enforceable.

By now they may have even passed it over to a debt collection company - this is the ideal situation.

Legalbeagles.info is full of advice which allows the responsible to get out of debt and the irresponsible to get lots of stuff on credit and never pay it back

When I worked at the local council the Electoral register and the council tax systems were and still are separate system ran by different departments.

As for chasing debts its probably the district auditor has complained about unchased debts sitting on the councils books and so to look good they're having a session of sending out letters, theres probably systems still running the COMCIS software booking in a few pound a week for outstanding poll tax from peoples benefits etc.

Sounds pretty much like Nazi Germany....thought you sods won the war?? Think again.....
England is being turned into a human anthill.....
What with telly licences and such, soon youll be charged for the air it comes through....
I never realized how bad life in Britain sucks before....
Of course it hasn't been quite the same since Rothschild ended up with most of it after Waterloo.... freedom is definitely on the wane...

a reply to: nonspecific

I highly doubt this is enforceable and more of a scare tactic.

if you dont pay it i doubt anything will come of it.

i would rather pay £200 than be on the electoral role.

a reply to: nonspecific

They send all these threatening letters when you refuse to fill out those 'Census' Forms aswell.

They want way too much info on those forms.

Ive never voted in my life and never will, they can threaten all they want. I doubt they would threaten us all if we all chose to tell them to shove their vote where the sun dont shine!!

Fogot to mention ive never been fined either, and i never acknowledge any debts unless it takes my roof over my head, thats different.

And14263....thanks for telling us about legalbeagles site, ive bookmarked the site now so will look into it another time

a reply to: ParanoidCovKid
Well, if you don't vote then don't complain with what you get.

The idea is to add that edge to ensure the electoral role is accurate and up to date with an eye to reduce fraud. A small fine tends to motivate people. Right, or wrong that's the reason.

The electoral role is an "open register", but you can opt out of having your details made public.

a reply to: paraphi

Well, if you don't vote then don't complain with what you get.

Ludicrous statement.

So if every candidate on the ballot paper holds none of you political beliefs you are just supposed to vote for one of them anyway ?

I have never seen a communist candidate on my local ballot paper. I would suspect there are a far few communists around.

originally posted by: alldaylong
Ludicrous statement.

It does not make it wrong though.