Registers of interests

1. Who the rules cover

The rules are in Chapter 7 of Part 1 of the Localism Act 2011, sections 26 to 37.^[1]They apply to each “relevant authority”: county, district, London borough and parish councils, the Greater London Authority, the Common Council of the City of London, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, combined authorities and combined county authorities, fire and rescue authorities, National Park authorities, the Broads Authority, and some joint bodies.^[2]

They cover members and co-opted members. A co-opted member is someone who is not a councillor but sits on a committee or sub-committee with a vote.^[2]

2. The code of conduct

Each authority must promote and maintain high standards of conduct by its members, and must adopt a code of conduct setting out what is expected of them when acting as members.^[2] A parish council may adopt the code of its principal authority.

The code, taken as a whole, must be consistent with seven principles: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. It must also include the provision the authority considers appropriate for registering and disclosing pecuniary interests and other interests.^[3]

Every authority other than a parish council must have arrangements for investigating allegations that a member has not followed the code, and for deciding on them. It must appoint at least one independent person, whose views it must seek and take into account before deciding an allegation it has investigated. Only the full council can adopt, revise or replace its code, and it must publicise any change.^[3]

3. The register

The council's monitoring officer must set up and keep a register of the interests of members and co-opted members. The authority decides what the register contains, within the rules of the Act.^[4]

A copy of the register must be available for inspection at a place in the authority's area at all reasonable hours, and the register must be published on the authority's website.^[4]

For a parish council, the register is kept by the monitoring officer of the principal authority (the district council, the London borough council or, where there is neither, the county council) and published on the principal authority's website. A parish council that has its own website must also publish its register there.^[4]

4. Disclosable pecuniary interests

Within 28 days of becoming a member or co-opted member, a person must tell the monitoring officer of any disclosable pecuniary interest they have.^[5] On re-election, only interests not already in the register need to be notified.

A disclosable pecuniary interest is an interest of a description set out in regulations. It counts if it is the member's own, or if it belongs to their spouse or civil partner, or a person they live with as if married or in a civil partnership, and the member knows about it.^[5]

The descriptions are in the Schedule to the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012.^[6] In summary:

Each code must also deal with interests other than pecuniary ones. What those are is set by each council's code rather than by the regulations, so they vary from council to council.^[3]

5. Interests at meetings

If a member is at a meeting of the council, or of one of its committees or sub-committees, and knows they have a disclosable pecuniary interest in a matter being considered, they must not take part in any discussion or vote on it, unless they have a dispensation. If the interest is not already in the register, they must disclose it to the meeting and notify the monitoring officer within 28 days.^[7]

A council's standing orders may require the member to leave the room while the matter is discussed and voted on. Where a member could deal with a matter alone, they must take no step on it other than to pass it to someone else.^[7]

6. Details that can be withheld

Where the member and the monitoring officer agree that publishing the details of an interest could lead to the member, or someone connected with them, being subject to violence or intimidation, the published register leaves out the details. It may say that the member has an interest whose details are withheld.^[8]

Since 29 June 2026, a member's usual home address is left out of the published register unless the member asks in writing for it to be included. The register then states that the member has an interest the address of which is withheld.^[9]

7. Dispensations

On a written request, the authority may grant a dispensation allowing a member with a disclosable pecuniary interest to take part in the discussion, the vote, or both. It may do so only if it considers that, without the dispensation, so many members would be barred that the business could not be done; the balance of political groups would change enough to affect the likely result; the dispensation is in the interests of people living in the area; every member of the executive would be barred; or it is otherwise appropriate.^[10]

A dispensation must state how long it lasts, up to a maximum of four years.^[10]

8. Offences

It is a criminal offence, without reasonable excuse, to fail to notify a disclosable pecuniary interest as the Act requires, to take part in a discussion or vote in breach of the rules, or to take a step on a matter decided alone in breach of the rules. It is also an offence to give false or misleading information knowingly or recklessly.^[11]

On summary conviction the court may impose a fine up to level 5 on the standard scale and may disqualify the person from being a member of that or any other relevant authority for up to five years. A prosecution can be brought only by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, within 12 months of the prosecutor having enough evidence and no more than three years after the offence.^[11]

The government's 2013 guide for councillors describes these rules in more detail.^[12] It was written before the 2026 change on addresses.

9. How SIBA uses these records

SIBA reads each council's published register and code of conduct, and compares what councils publish with the Act and with similar councils. The methodology sets out how comparisons are made.