The canvass email is genuine despite its odd address. Reply by 2 October or a letter follows on 19 October. May 2027 elects the council replacing the Vale.

Households across the Vale of White Horse are being emailed this month and asked to confirm who lives at their address. The deadline to reply is Friday 2 October. Anyone who does not reply, or who has no email address on file, gets a letter in the post from 19 October.

Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils are contacting more than 88,000 properties between them, the councils said on 1 September.

The email looks like a scam. It is not

The councils have flagged the address it comes from, because it is long enough to read as a phishing attempt:

electoral.services.south.oxfordshire.and.vale.of.white.horse.district.councils@notifications.service.gov.uk

The reply goes to HouseholdResponse.com/SouthAndVale, using the unique property codes printed in the email. One response per household is enough, even if several people there receive the message.

If you add a new name to the property, that person still has to register separately at gov.uk/register-to-vote. Adding them to the household form does not do it.

Responding is not optional if you have been asked. The council’s own guidance says it is a legal requirement under Regulation 23 of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001. Households that do not reply can expect reminder forms, emails, a phone call or a doorstep visit.

Why this canvass matters more than the last few

The councils’ notice points at “local elections taking place in May 2027”. Those are not ordinary district elections.

Vale of White Horse District Council is being abolished. The government confirmed on 16 July that Oxfordshire and West Berkshire’s seven councils will be replaced by three unitary councils on 1 April 2028. Most of the Vale, including Abingdon, Wantage and Faringdon, goes into a new Ridgeway Council alongside most of South Oxfordshire and the whole of West Berkshire.

The May 2027 elections are the elections to those new councils. The government’s decision letter to council leaders states plainly that they “will replace any scheduled local elections, and affected councillors will have their terms extended”. The winners sit as a shadow authority preparing the new council, which starts delivering services on 1 April 2028.

Timeline showing the Vale of White Horse canvass emails in September 2026, the 2 October response deadline, letters from 19 October, the revised register on 1 December, elections in May 2027 and the new councils starting on 1 April 2028
From the canvass email to the council that replaces the Vale. Graphic by Abingdon Online.

Nine Vale parishes will be electing a different council

Not everyone in the district votes for the same thing. Nine Vale parishes leave the district altogether and join Greater Oxford Council, the unitary built around the city. Vale leader Cllr Bethia Thomas put the number of residents affected at more than 23,000.

The council’s own list of the nine is:

  • Appleton-with-Eaton
  • Besselsleigh
  • Cumnor
  • Kennington
  • North Hinksey (with Botley)
  • South Hinksey
  • Sunningwell
  • Wootton
  • Wytham

Cllr Thomas said many residents had raised concerns during the consultation about “retaining the unique character of the Vale’s villages, protecting our countryside, and ensuring rural voices are not overshadowed by the priorities of a larger urban area”, and that she would be “seeking utmost reassurance that any changes are carried out sensitively”.

The decision is described by the councils as the government’s “minded-to” decision. It becomes law through a structural changes order, which the councils expect in autumn 2026.

Recent movers are the ones who go missing

The councils cite Electoral Commission research on why the canvass exists. In Great Britain, 92 per cent of people who have lived in their home for 16 years are registered. Among people at an address for less than a year, it is 36 per cent.

Susan Baker, deputy electoral registration officer for the two councils, said the canvass “helps to ensure that the electoral information we have for every address is accurate and up to date”, and that responding to the email saves public money because it avoids a follow-up letter.

What it means for you

  • Reply by Friday 2 October if the email reaches you, at HouseholdResponse.com/SouthAndVale. You need the property codes from the email.
  • Check the sender before you click. It ends @notifications.service.gov.uk. Anything else asking for your voter details is not from the council.
  • List everyone aged 16 or over at the address, with nationalities.
  • New names must register separately at gov.uk/register-to-vote.
  • No email on file, or no reply? A form arrives from 19 October. The revised register is normally published on 1 December.
  • Contact: the elections team at elections@southandvale.gov.uk or 01235 422422. You can also reply by phone, email or post if you cannot do it online.

For the practical side of living in the district, our council tax bands page sets out what each parish charges, and planning news tracks what the council is deciding while it still exists.

Sources: Vale of White Horse District Council, 1 September 2026; What is the annual canvass?; Government confirms three new unitary councils, 16 July 2026; MHCLG decision letter to Oxfordshire council leaders, 16 July 2026. All checked 4 September 2026.