No schools-based or automatic registration pipeline for attainers

Around eight million eligible voters are unregistered. Young people, renters and frequent movers are worst affected, and the Electoral Commission finds attainer registration in England declining year on year. The Representation of the People Bill lowers the registration age to 14 and allows automated-registration pilots without committing to any mechanism. Wales piloted automatic registration in 2025 and added 16,000 voters, 1,500 of them attainers. Northern Ireland has run a schools registration initiative for years. England has no schools duty, and the National Insurance number issued to every teenager at 15¾ never reaches the electoral register.

The franchise is moving to 16 while the registration system loses track of exactly that age group. Registration is the cheapest lever on youth turnout that exists, and the infrastructure decided in 2026 will shape participation for decades.

A statutory registration duty on schools and colleges in England, with automatic attainer registration built on the National Insurance records DWP already holds and the pupil records DfE already holds. Electoral registration officers would need ring-fenced funding to process the flow. The current Bill can carry it, by amendment or through secondary legislation.

// State-led: Instrument: statutory schools duty and automatic attainer registration via amendment or secondary legislation.

The Bill is in Parliament now, Welsh and Northern Irish precedents are ready to copy, and nobody is funded to build attainer auto-registration this year.