Councillors: Vetting
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 83467 on Councillors: Disclosure and Barring Service, what steps would be taken if a councillor has a criminal record.
Answered by Alison McGovern
Where a councillor has been convicted of criminal offences and receives a jail sentence (whether suspended or not) of three months or more, they are disqualified from either standing for or holding office as a local authority member for a period of five years.
The Local Government (Disqualification) Act 2022 introduced a further disqualification of registered sex offenders who may not receive a custodial sentence.
Councillors must declare anything that might disqualify them from standing for or holding local office, not doing so is a criminal offence.
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