Frustrating politics of being NFA

The political turmoil of the past 10 days let alone the past five months has brought the subject of a General Election to the fore, then it seemed to have receded, reappeared and perhaps by the time you read this it will have receded and reappeared once more. One thing is certain – in order to vote in a General Election we need to ensure we are on the electoral register, also known as the electoral roll.

We always have been avid voters when living in bricks and mortar. We have always voted whenever we could in the UK (only not doing when resident abroad). So now we find ourselves in a different situation – no fixed abode to be precise. It’s a description I am very familiar with – as I news reporter I used to cover Magistrates, Crown and Assises courts when NFA was always given by those appearing before the courts who were living rough. Hearing it applied to us now makes me realise how fortunate we are, living free, untied and yet secure.

It gives us a bit of a problem though in terms of voting. We had stayed on the electoral register for the past few years at our former address which is now let. It seemed the obvious thing to do, and we gave it no though until our tenant suddenly found themselves with council tax issues because we were still on the electoral roll at that address. Hastily we began to resolve the issue – for our tenant but also for us so we could vote in case there should be a General Election before January 2025, the latest one could theoretically take place.

It isn’t as easy as you might think, getting a vote when you are NFA. Getting the form is straightforward if you have access to the internet. But they won’t let you fill it in online, you have to print it off. Fortunately for us a friendly boatyard with a printer was at hand and only too happy to help if we could produce the right form.

Gov.uk offer a choice – Reguster to vote if you haven’t got a fixed or permanent address (England), Register to vote if you haven’t got a fixed or permanent address (Wales) and the equivalent form in Welsh too, or Register to vote if you haven’t got a fixed or permanent address (Scotland). Our mooring time in Wales is minimal, we can only get to Scottish canals sadly by putting the boat on a truck, and realistically we spend most of our cruising time in England, so that’s a clear choice. Two copies of a 5 page form duly printed in English for England.

We are then helpfully told:

You can use this form to register to vote if you’re either:

• homeless or have no fixed address
• a person who has been remanded in custody, but you have not yet been convicted of any offence
• a patient in a mental health hospital

Hmm…. strange collection of circumstances bringing people to this form then. We are fortunate to have a lovely home, aren’t in custody or in a mental health hospital so no fixed address it is.

Page 1 was easy – name, date of birth, nationality, national insurance number. So far so good… but not for long. Page 2 was where the issues started – much as I remember exam papers from the past!

Moved house in the last 12 months? Technically yes, I’ve forgotten how many hundred times we’ve moved moorings! Don’t think that’s what they want but the answer is no then if it means bricks and mortar moves. We moved to live afloat several years ago now…So no.

Then How would you like to receive correspondence about your registration?

The choice: Collect from electoral registration office or give an address. We gave an address where all our post goes. Then we were asked “Do you live at another address? Yes or No…. Oh dear. We don’t live at that address but we don’t have another address so what on earth are we supposed to put there? If we lived at that address we would have a fixed address and we wouldn’t be filling in this wretched form!

We said no and moved on…to:

Your address for registration

Please tick ONE statement about your address:

I have no fixed address – please give us the address or place where you spend a large part of your time in Address 1

I am a mental health patient living in a mental health hospital – please give both of the following:

• the name and address of the hospital in which you are being treated in Address 1

• and the address where you would be living if you were not a mental health patient or where you have lived in the past in Address 2

I am a person who has been remanded in custody – please give both of the following:

• the name and address of the place in which you are being detained in Address 1

• the address where you would be living if you had not been remanded in custody or where you have lived in the past in Address 2.

That seemed pretty straightforward in many ways – I have no fixed address had to be it. But then we hit problems because where we spend the largest part of our time is afloat…without an address, the whole reason for needing to fill a form in as NFA. This is beginning to feel like a protracted political deadlock of the frustrating song there’s a hole in my bucket ….

We debate and under address so under I have no fixed address – please give us the address or place where you spend a large part of your time in Address 1 we added Narrowboat, continuously cruising the UK. No street address, no postcode but an honest response. Then thank heavens we can add a mobile number and email address, so hopefully we they will contact us if there are issues…

Next up we decide to go for a postal vote to be on the safe side in case for some reason they allocate us to a constituency we can’t get anywhere near by narrowboat, and finally sign, date and post the forms (one for each of us). Finding an address to post to was a bit of a puzzle but we went for the electoral register office nearest to the postal adress in the end.

Three days later my phone rings – an electoral registration officer. She apologetically explains she really needs an address for us, and can we confirm our situation. We duly explain, as we thought we had in the form, and she says that’s what she thought and it’s all fine. We won’t be on an electoral register under a specific address or on the open register but under ‘other’. They need an address to be able to allocate us to a constituency. Constituency duly allocated and a letter should be awaiting us when we next visit our postal address. We are though now ready for anything politicians throw at us in terms of an election, so that’s an immense relief and requires NFA on our part – no further action!

It got me thinking about how we view labels though, we are NFA (No Fixed Abode) but delightfully so, in fact NFA Now Free, Absolutely.