Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025: equality impact assessment

Executive summary

The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025 will make a number of changes to electoral law, affecting the running and administration of Scottish Parliament elections. The Order will amend rules around registering to vote by declaration of local connection, clarify Electoral Commission oversight rules, update the definitions of notional expenditure and the offence of undue influence, reduce the dissolution period and make related timetable changes, make changes to limits to election expenses in cases of postponement, update requirements for Returning Officers, and to provide equipment, and make changes to rules on proxy voting.

Many of the changes made in the Order impact primarily on electoral administrators or regulators such as the Electoral Commission. The policy changes which impact on people, and have a differential impact on protected characteristic groups are discussed in detail in this impact assessment.

The assessment considered the impact that the changes made in this Order are expected to have on the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Two policy changes were found to have a differential impact on protected characteristic groups, and these are both assessed as having positive impacts.

The Order will allow voter registration by making a declaration of local connection for ‘looked after’ or formerly ‘looked after’ children, available to those aged under 21. This impact assessment finds that this change is expected to have a positive impact on the limited cohort of people aged under 21 that it applies to. The change aims to remove a barrier to registration for a vulnerable group of young people by reducing administrative burdens for those who move address frequently, and removes stigma by no longer requiring a declaration of homelessness in order to register to vote in these circumstances.

The Order will amend the requirement for Returning Officers (ROs) to provide appropriate equipment in polling stations to assist voting. This impact assessment finds that this change will have a positive impact on people with disabilities, as ROs will now have increased flexibility in providing appropriate equipment to assist voters. This will be done in conjunction with the Election Commission, who will be required to provide guidance to this effect. The requirement in law for a specific tactile voting device will be removed, and replaced with the more flexible general requirement. This policy change aims to increase the number of voters with disabilities who can vote independently and in secret, and mirrors changes made by the UK Parliament.

This Equalities Impact Assessment does not find that there expected negative impacts on any groups of people with protected characteristics, therefore no mitigating action is recommended. The policy changes will be kept under review, and Scottish Government will continue to engage with electoral administrators on the impacts on these changes. Following the May 2026 Scottish Parliament election, the Electoral Commission, and other bodies, are expected to report on the election, including on accessibility of voting. These reports will be considered alongside other feedback on the election.