Residents’ names and address details sold on City council earns thousands selling your information

Canterbury City Council has received more than £10,000 by selling the names and addressed of the district’s residents to third parties in the past five years.

The local authority earned £10,756.50 by handing over information from the electoral roll - the second highest amount in Kent, behind only Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council.

The Kentish Gazette’s sister website, Kentonline, asked all 13 councils in Kent to disclose their totals, and while Ashford, Thanet and Dartford did not respond, the remaining 10 revealed they had generated a combined £82,733.62.

Many sold electoral roll data to companies including credit reference agencies like Experian, Crediva and Equifax, as well as political parties and other businesses.

Councils must impose a fee to supply information from the open register, as set out in the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 (Regulations 110 and 111).

Anyone can buy the open register, which does not include information from those who have opted not to have their information listed - although credit reference agencies can buy the full register with no opt outs.

Meanwhile, political parties can use the full register for free.

The amount charged depends on the size of the electorate, and the city council says Canterbury has one of the biggest in Kent.

Spokesman Leo Whitlock said: “Rules surrounding the selling of the electoral register are set out in national legislation and all councils are required to comply with them. There are strict controls in place on what can and cannot be done.

“Income from the sale of the register goes straight into our elections budget and is used to offset the cost of the elections service including electoral registration and running elections.”

A spokesman for Experian added: “The information we use from the electoral roll is vital for people to access every-day services. We use it to help compa- nies verify people’s identities and confirm they live where they say they do. In turn, companies can seamlessly provide people with mobile phone contracts, insurance and accountancy services, or approve mortgages.”

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