ALMOST 5,000 Worcester voters dropped off the electoral roll after they were asked to register individually, it has emerged.

The number of electors plunged 6.3 per cent at the last General Election and is still 1,556 voters down on where it stood in 2013.

The findings have been revealed by Worcester City Council after an in-house investigation was held into the impact of Individual Electoral Registration (IER).

Three years ago the Government tried to clean up the voting system nationwide and tackle fraud by asking people to register individually, rather than allow one householder to do it for everyone.

The council's work reveals how the shake-up led to astonishing falls in some parts of the city - with St Clement alone losing 1,001 voters, 20 per cent of its total figure.

The Arboretum saw an 8.7 per cent decline in registered voters, Cathedral lost 5.6 per cent and Warndon lost 6.7 per cent - with all 15 wards across the city losing a combined 4,650 registered electors.

It has started to recover since and at the last count in December, stood at 75,529 possible electors - 2.3 per cent down on the figure of 77,085 in 2013.

After a heavy council effort to get its figures back up three parts of the city, St John's, St Stephen and Warndon Parish South are even slightly up on 2013, by either one or two per cent.

A council report says the recovery could be put down to "recent political issues such as the EU referendum", which has started to boost numbers.

The findings have been discussed by the scrutiny committee, where councillors said they was more work to do.

Labour Councillor Matt Lamb, a former parliamentary candidate in the Wyre Forest who led the work, said: "As a council we have a responsibility to encourage democracy and engagement in the political process.

"There was a drop-off in registration and that has recovered since then, but we're still just over two per cent down on what it was.

"We can't take our eye off the ball."

Councillor Pat Agar, a former city mayor, called for more work to be done getting ethnic minorities to register, citing women who go to the mosque.

She said: "Groups like that aren't on the political horizon. There's more work to do, that's all I can say."

Tory councillors Steve Mackay and Stephen Hodgson, and Green Councillor Louis Stephen also took part in the review.

  • You can see their final report HERE.