When moving home one of the most important items to do is to update your address with the electoral roll. You’ll need to let lots of institutions and businesses know that you’re moving, but electoral roll may be one of the most important. In this article we’ll cover how to manage the electoral roll moving home process online, when to do it and why it’s important.
How to update your Address with the Electoral Roll?
You’re moving home and you’ve got to let the Electoral Roll know you’re now at a new address. You can complete your electoral roll change of address online in just in a couple of minutes. You can do this on HMRC’s electoral roll page, or if you’re moving home you may find it more useful to use an online change of address service, like SlothMove.
This will enable you to update your address across other governmental institutions; electoral roll, hmrc, dwp, council, water etc… You can complete it online by:
- Going to SlothMove’s online moving home portal
- Select who you’d like to update
- Enter your info
- Complete
Once submitted, your electoral roll update can take up to 3 weeks in England and 4 weeks in Wales to complete. You will receive a confirmation email once submitted and then a few weeks to process.
If anybody from the voting office requires further information they will reach out to you directly via email or phone to clarify. As we know, even if there is not a vote imminent it is still important to have the correct address with Electoral Roll.
When do I Need to Update the Electoral Roll?
Best practice would be to update the electoral register the day you’re moving home. This can be done a couple of weeks in advance if you’re confident that you’re going to be moving in. If you don’t update your address with electoral roll you can potentially be fined
Do I need to update the Electoral Roll?
There are lots of reasons why you need to update the electoral roll. Firstly, not updating your address on the electoral register can impact your credit score. It’s not that credit reference agencies penalise you because you’ve not updated, but rather that the electoral roll information is an important factor in establishing your online identity. And if your electoral roll data says you’re based in London and every other indicator says you’re based in Manchester that presents as a conflict and negatively impacts your score. According to Governmental legislation, if you fail to respond to an electoral registration officer or complete the household canvas it is a criminal offence. This can result in a £1,000 fine and potentially a criminal record.
So, now we’ve covered how to update your address, when you should inform the electoral roll and why it’s important. There is a long list of to-do’s when moving, and it’s important to prioritise the official updates like electoral roll and hmrc.
