Rise in consumers opting out of electoral roll

Skipton Information Group, owner of EuroDirect, has revealed the latest opt-out figures from the 2008 Electoral Roll, which indicate yet another rise in opt-out levels across the UK.

Analysis of opt-out rates by councils across the UK has highlighted an average opt-out rate of 39.75 per cent, which shows another significant increase on the previous year, when the figure was 36.76.

A combination of consumers exercising their freedom to choose and councils' pre-ticking of opt-outs has resulted in an additional 1.5 million consumers opting out of this year's electoral roll canvass.

This means that over the last six years 18.3 million UK residents have now removed themselves from the prospect universe available to marketers.

Analysis of the Electoral Rolls submitted by each of the councils shows that: 22.9 per cent of all councils have more than half of their residents opting out.

Some 7.8 per cent of all councils have opt-out rates in excess of 60 per cent.

The 20 Highest Opt-Out Local Authority Areas include Kennet (75.78 per cent), Ealing (77.19), Epping Forest (76.35) and Richmond Upon Thames (75.30).

The lowest opt-out local authority areas include North Tayside and Angus (4.95 per cent), Perth and Kinross (6.90), Lanarkshire (7.47), Dundee (10.60), and Dumfries and Galloway( 11.15).

Mike Green, Chief Executive of Skipton Information Group, commented: "While it is encouraging to see the rate of opt-out slow slightly for the first time in three years, marketers should be wary of becoming complacent.

"A massive 40 per cent of consumers available to market six years ago are no longer accessible.

"These statistics reveal that marketers need to continue to augment their Edited Electoral Roll data with other data sources, especially in areas where we see large opt-out trends".

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