Emails went out 25 August and forms reach every South Norfolk home on 24 September. Responding is a legal duty, and ignoring it means a doorstep visit.
Canvass forms will land on every doormat in Wymondham on 24 September, and this year the register they build decides who votes in the elections that replace South Norfolk Council.
South Norfolk Council and Broadland District Council are running their annual canvass of the electoral register. The council’s canvass page sets out three dates:
- 25 August 2026: a canvass email sent to some properties
- 24 September 2026: canvass forms posted to households
- 2 November 2026: reminder forms sent
The letter is addressed to “The Resident” rather than to anyone by name. The councils are emailing first this year so that households who can reply online do not need to wait for the paper form.
Responding is a legal duty, but not every household has to
This is the part people get wrong. The council’s own wording is blunt: it is a legal requirement for all households to respond to the annual canvass if they are asked to do so, even if there are no eligible electors at the address, and even if nobody there intends to vote.
But not every household is asked. The council says to check your letter carefully, because it will tell you what you need to do. Some forms are for information only.
If a response is required and none arrives by the deadline, the council says it will carry out a personal canvass. In its words, that “may involve a phone call or a visit to your home”.
How to reply
There are three routes:
- From the email: click the link to the response service at registersecurely.com/SouthNorfolkandBroadland and enter the security codes in the message
- From the letter: use the same website with the security information printed on your form
- By post: amend the form and return it to Electoral Services, Horizon Business Centre, Peachman Way, Broadland Business Park, Norwich, NR7 0WF
The email is real, and here is how to check
Canvass season is a gift to scammers, so the council publishes the exact details of its own message. A genuine canvass email:
- comes from the government notification service, with the sender shown as Elections at South Norfolk and Broadland
- is sent from
elections.at.south.norfolk.and.broadland@notifications.service.gov.uk - has a subject line naming “South Norfolk Council Annual Canvass 2026” and asking you to respond
- contains your unique security codes and a link to the Register Securely service
Anything asking for payment or bank details is not from the council.
Returning the form does not register you
This trips up new arrivals every year. The canvass form is a check on who lives at an address. It is not a registration form, and posting it back will not put anyone on the register.
Anyone named on the form who is not already registered has to either register at gov.uk, which takes about five minutes, or wait for the council to send an Invitation to Register. Paying council tax does not register you to vote either.
If you registered after 20 August your name will not appear on the form sent to your address. The council says you do not need to register again, but you should still complete the form if you have been asked to.
Why this canvass matters more than the last one
The register being checked now is the one that will be used for elections in May 2027, and those elections are not for South Norfolk Council.
Norfolk County Council confirms that from April 2028 the county’s eight existing councils will be replaced by three unitary authorities, subject to parliamentary approval. The new authorities are set up in shadow form first, with elections in May 2027. Councillors elected then get a first term of five years, so the next election after that is in 2032.
The government’s decision was set out in a written ministerial statement on 25 March 2026. It names the three councils and how Norfolk is carved up:
- East Norfolk Council: Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk, Broadland less 19 parishes, and South Norfolk less 25 parishes
- Greater Norwich Council: Norwich, 19 parishes from Broadland and 16 from South Norfolk
- West Norfolk Council: Breckland, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, and 9 parishes from South Norfolk
Councillor numbers are fixed at 65 for East Norfolk, 63 for Greater Norwich and 72 for West Norfolk.
Which council Wymondham ends up in
South Norfolk is the only district split three ways, and the 25 parishes leaving it are named in the councils’ own submission to government.
Wymondham is not on either list, and neither are Diss, Long Stratton, Harleston or Loddon. On those lists, all of them fall into East Norfolk Council.
The parishes that leave include several on Wymondham’s doorstep. Hethersett, Costessey, Cringleford, Little Melton, Colney and Poringland go to Greater Norwich. Wicklewood, Morley, Deopham and Hackford, Hingham, Barford, Barnham Broom, Brandon Parva, Kimberley and Carleton Forehoe and Wramplingham go to West Norfolk.
So Wymondham and Wicklewood, two miles apart, are set to elect councillors to different unitary authorities.
None of this is final until Parliament makes the Structural Change Order, which Norfolk County Council expects in autumn 2026. The boundaries could still move.
What it means for you
- If a canvass email arrives, deal with it now. It is the fastest route and it stops the paper form and the reminder.
- Check the letter before you bin it. If it says a response is required, that is a legal duty, and not replying invites a phone call or a doorstep visit in November.
- If you have moved to Wymondham in the past year, the canvass will not register you. Do it separately at gov.uk/register-to-vote.
- Not being on the register also affects credit checks. The council points out that reference agencies use it to confirm an address, and you may be refused credit if you are not on it.
- If you want to know what your council is currently responsible for, our guides to bin collection days, council tax bands and planning applications all point back to South Norfolk Council, for now.
Questions about the canvass go to the Electoral Services team on 01508 533704 for South Norfolk, or by email to elections@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk.
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