New Rules on Publishing Councillors' Home Addresses: What Parish and Town Councils Need to Know
From the 29th June 2026, legislation changes on how local authorities publish information relating to councillors' home addresses.
The change affects principal authorities, parish councils and town councils, and has implications for Registers of Interests and potentially for councillor contact information published on council websites.
What Has Changed?
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has confirmed that a new Section 32A of the Localism Act 2011 comes into force on the 29th June 2026 through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.
Under the new provisions, a councillor's home address must not be published within a public Register of Interests unless the councillor has specifically requested that it be disclosed.
Councillors must still provide their home address details to the Monitoring Officer, and those details will continue to be retained internally. However, the public version of the register should indicate that an interest exists whilst withholding the address itself.
The change applies to elected and co-opted Councillors and extends to parish and town councils that publish Registers of Interests on their websites.
Why Has This Change Been Introduced?
The legislation is intended to improve the safety and privacy of elected members.
In recent years, there has been increasing concern about harassment, intimidation and abuse directed towards Councillors and other public officials. The Government's position is that local authorities should not be required to publish residential addresses in publicly accessible registers.
What Does This Mean for Parish and Town Council Websites?
Registers of Interests
Councils should review any Registers of Interests published on their website.
Where Registers of Interests are supplied by the Monitoring Officer or hosted by the principal authority, councils should ensure they are linking to or publishing the latest available versions.
If your website contains historic copies of Registers of Interests that include residential addresses, it may be sensible to discuss these with your Monitoring Officer and consider whether they should remain publicly available.
Councillor Contact Information
The legislation specifically relates to Registers of Interests and statutory registers. It does not create a blanket ban on councillors choosing to publish contact information.
However, many councils may wish to review the information displayed on councillor profile pages.
Consider whether it remains appropriate to publish:
- Full residential addresses
- Personal telephone numbers
- Personal email addresses
Many councils already provide:
- Dedicated council email addresses
- Contact forms
- Clerk-mediated contact arrangements
- Village or ward information instead of full addresses
These approaches can help maintain transparency whilst reducing privacy concerns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do councillors still have to provide their home address?
Yes. Home address details must still be declared to the Monitoring Officer and remain available internally for governance and conflict-of-interest purposes.
Can a councillor choose to have their address published?
Yes. The legislation allows a councillor to request publication of their home address if they wish.
What if the address is already publicly available elsewhere?
Some councillors may have addresses that appear in public records, such as Companies House or other official registers.
However, the fact that information is available elsewhere does not mean a council should continue publishing it. The purpose of the legislation is to prevent local authorities from routinely publishing residential addresses as part of council records.
Should councils remove councillors' addresses from profile pages?
While the legislation does not specifically prohibit this, many councils may decide that removing residential addresses is the most appropriate and future-proof approach.
Need Help Updating Your Council Website?
We recommend that parish and town councils:
- Review any Registers of Interests published on their website.
- Ensure links point to the latest versions provided by the Monitoring Officer.
- Check whether historic PDFs containing home addresses remain online.
- Review councillor profile pages and contact information.
- Consider whether alternative contact methods would be more appropriate.
Need Help Updating Your Council Website?
If your council website contains Registers of Interests, councillor profile pages or contact information that may be affected by these changes, Somerset Web Services can help review your website and implement any required updates.
If you would like advice or assistance, please get in touch with our team.