2006 UK Electoral Roll Opt Out Figures On The Rise Yet Again

20 December 2005

Leading technology and data Group, which includes EuroDirect and Callcredit has revealed the latest opt-out figures from the 2006 Electoral Roll, which indicate yet another rise in opt-out levels across the UK.

Interim analysis of well over 90% of the councils in the UK has highlighted a UK average opt out rate of 32.25%, which shows a significant increase on last year.

Year

Overall Average
Opt Out Rate

Average Year On
Year Increase

2006

32.25%

4.73%

2005

27.52%

1.52%

2004

26.00%

5.10%

2003

20.90%

20.90%

Pre-ticking of opt-outs by local authorities on electoral roll forms has continued for the 2006 register, and the result of this and heightened media exposure has meant that we have seen approximately 2.1 million more people opt out across the UK in this Autumns’ canvass. This means that almost 14.5 million individuals have now removed themselves from the marketers data toolkit.

Analysis of the Electoral Rolls processed to date indicate the best and worst local authorities as highlighted below:

10 Highest Opt-Out Local Authority Areas So Far:

Bridgend

77.01%

Kennet

74.80%

Eden

67.19%

Maidstone

65.91%

Richmondshire

65.70%

Sutton

61.35%

Wokingham

61.21%

Salford

60.98%

Bromley

59.93%

Islington

59.91%

10 Lowest Opt-Out Local Authority Areas So Far:

Highlands & Western Isles

9.32%

Lanarkshire

9.11%

Grampian

9.00%

Argyll & Bute

8.97%

Dunbartonshire

8.05%

Bradford

7.77%

Perth and Kinross

7.10%

Dundee

6.46%

Gedling

6.14%

North Tayside & Angus

5.27%


A Mike Green, Chief Executive Officer of Skipton Information Group comments:
“This increase is somewhat concerning. Since the legislation was introduced, about 14.5 million less consumers are available across the UK for targeting. Although household opt-out trends are nowhere near as high as we see in the telecanvassing marketplace, there is a worrying trend in data loss. The industry still needs to be aware of the importance of supplementing the Electoral Roll with other data sources to sustain access to the consumer universe, especially when targeting localised campaigns.”

Notes: EuroDirects Data Exchange provides access to a universe of 45 million consumers and over 300 consumer attributes. It has been built by pooling lifestyle, transactional and financial data with publicly available datasets.

ENDS

For further information please contact:
Eulogy!   0207 927 9999   cig@eulogy.co.uk

Notes to Editors

About the Callcredit Information Group
Callcredit Information Group (www.callcreditgroup.com) brings together experts across the fields of credit referencing, marketing services, interactive solutions and consultative analytics to enable our client base of businesses and consumers to make informed decisions using our innovative products and services. The group is made up of two complementary divisions:

Marketing Solutions, providing specialist knowledge in customer analytics, consumer targeting, database building and hosting, marketing communications, business modelling and market analysis through three market leaders in their own fields: EuroDirect, Broadsystem and GMAP Consulting.

Credit Solutions, encompassing Callcredit, Legatio and DecisionMetrics – specialists in credit risk, ID verification services and tracing tools.

About EuroDirect
EuroDirect (www.eurodirect.com), the marketing services business within Callcredit information group and is one of the UK’s leading marketing suppliersThe company is well established in the field of direct marketing. Clients include over 40% of the UK's top 1,000 companies, including three of the top five largest multi nationals Examples are Npower, Airmiles, Capital One, Scottish and Southern, Barclaycard and HBOS. EuroDirect is a prime supplier of consumer data, targeting and segmentation systems, credit marketing services and software and technologies to help marketers undertake consumer profiling, analysis, targeting, data management, market analysis and decision support. EuroDirect also works internationally and has developed a suite of international segmentation tools under the CAMEO brand.