Adding a councillor

Before you start

You will need the following information:

• The councillor's forename and surname
• Their private email address — this is used for login and notifications, and will not be displayed publicly
• Their gender preference (Male, Female, Not-Specified). Note this is only used to correctly designate the councillor as Chairman, Chairwoman, or Chair according to their preference.
• Their agenda notification preference (if known)

Optional information you may also want to hand:

• Their public email address (if the council publishes this)
• Their public phone number (if the council publishes this)
• Their ward (if the council publishes this)
• Their party affiliation (if the council publishes this)
• A photo (JPEG - if the council publishes this)
• A signed Declaration of Interests (PDF - if the council publishes this through CouncilPapers)
• A short public description (if the council publishes this)

Steps

1. Go to People > Councillors in the left-hand menu.

2. Click New Councillor.

3. Under Core Information, complete the following fields:

   Field	Required	Notes
   Forename	Yes
   Surname	Yes
   Email	Yes	Private, for login and notifications only. Must be unique across the platform.
   Public Email	No	Displayed on the public portal if the council publishes email addresses.
   Public Phone	No	Displayed on the public portal if the council publishes phone numbers.
   Gender	No	Used only to correctly designate the councillor as Chairman, Chairwoman, or Chair.
   Ward	No	Select from the council's configured wards.
   Party	No	Select from the council's configured parties.

4. Under Public Information, complete any optional fields:

   Field	Notes
   Public description	A short biography or statement. Appears on the public portal.
   Upload Image (JPEG)	The councillor's photo. Appears on the public portal.
   Upload Declaration of Interests (PDF)	The councillor's signed declaration. Appears on the public portal.

5. Under Agenda Notification Preference, select how this councillor wishes to receive agenda notifications. The default is Notification by Email. Options are:

   • No Notification — the councillor will not receive notification emails
   • Notification by Email — an email with links to the agenda
   • Attached to an Email — an email with the agenda PDF attached
   • Printed — the councillor requires a physical copy

   If you are unsure, leave the default. This can be changed at any time.

6. Click Submit. You are taken to the councillor's profile page.

After saving

After saving you are taken directly to the councillor's profile page. From here you can complete two further steps before the councillor can access the system:

Set their password directly — if the councillor is with you in the office, use the Set Councillor Password button at the bottom of the page to set their password on their behalf.

Send a welcome email — if the councillor is not present, use the Send Welcome Email button instead. This sends the councillor an email with instructions for setting their own password and accessing the system for the first time.

You only need to do one of these — not both.

Assign to committees — the councillor is not yet assigned to any committees. To add them to a committee, see Managing committee membership.

A note on email addresses

The Email field is the councillor's private address, used for login and for receiving agenda notifications. It must be unique across the CouncilPapers platform — if the address is already in use, the form will not save.

This is separate from the Public Email field, which is the address optionally displayed on your council's public portal. These can be the same address or different ones, depending on the councillor's preference.

What is and is not shown publicly

Which fields appear on the public portal depends on your council's publication settings. For example, if your council has chosen not to publish phone numbers, the Public Phone field will never be shown even if it is filled in.

To review or change your council's publication settings, see Controlling what the public sees about councillors.