• Polls are open in elections across England Scotland and Wales until 22:00 BST.
• Leaders of many of the biggest political parties have been photographed at polling stations.
• Voters will choose their representatives for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and the London Assembly
• 143 local councils in England, 13 regional mayors, and 39 police and crime commissioners will also be elected.
• A by-election is being held to elect a new MP for Hartlepool
• This is the most important set of polls since the 2019 general election.

• You can hand in any unreturned postal votes at your local polling station and, if you can't make it to a polling place, you have until 5pm to apply for an emergency proxy vote, external
• Only a handful of local councils and the Hartlepool by-election will count overnight.
• All the counts will take longer due to the need to maintain social distancing in counting venues.
• There will be special BBC coverage of the results tomorrow and throughout the weekend

There have been a lot of dogs at polling stations so far today, some first timers and others old hands.

We have been loving all your pictures on social media of your pets accompanying you to vote.

Keep tagging us in your snaps on social media @BBCPolitics , externaland we will feature as many as we can on our live page.

Where is my polling station?published at 12:11 British Summer Time 6 May 2021

12:11 BST 6 May 2021

Image source, Reuters

The first thing to check is that you are registered to vote.

If you are, you will have received a polling card in the post. This will have the address of your polling station on it.

You do not need to bring the polling card with you when you cast your vote.

Use our postcode checker to get all the details in your area.

A total of around 48 million people across England, Scotland and Wales will be able to vote in today's elections. Here is a rundown of what is up for grabs:

• Around 5,000 English local election seats, across 143 councils
• 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament
• 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd
• 39 Police and Crime Commissioners
• 25 seats in the London Assembly
• 13 directly-elected mayors
• 1 MP will be elected in the Hartlepool by-election

The election results will take a little longer to come through than usual, due to requirements to maintain social distancing in the venues where the ballots will be counted.

So this is no all-nighter - the BBC's special coverage will begin on Friday morning.

You can find all the details here.

Image source, Getty

That is a very personal question and only you can decide.

For the elections in Scotland and Wales you can compare where the parties stand on the key issues in our manifesto guides:

Who should I vote for in Scotland

Who should I vote for in Wales?

You may also have had some campaigning literature through your letterbox.

The BBC, like other broadcasters, is not allowed to report details of campaigning or election issues today while the polls are open. That is because under electoral law, the BBC must follow a code of practice to ensure fairness between candidates.

Your polling station is most likely to be in a local town hall, or church hall. But they can be set up in some more unusual places - like this cafe in Oxford.

Image source, Reuters

As well as those of you humans who may be voting for the first time today, it is also a polling day initiation for many new pets too.

The old hands know to get in there quick to beat the crowds like this one from a BBC correspondent.

Lots of you have been tweeting pictures of your pooches waiting patiently outside while you cast your vote.

Keep tagging us in you pictures on social media @BBCPolitics, external.

Voters in Scotland heading out to vote need to wrap up warm today as unseasonable weather continues.

These are the snowy scenes at Blair Atholl.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria have voted at Greenwood Centre polling station in north London.

Green party co-leader Jonathan Bartley has been photogrpahed with his partner Sarah Fletcher, as they arrived to vote in Streatham, south London

Image source, PA Media

Scottish Labour party leader Anas Sarwar arrives at his local polling station Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow to deliver his postal vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon leaves her house in Glasgow at the start of polling day.

It's understood that Ms Sturgeon cast her vote in a postal ballot

Image source, PA Media

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has voted this morning with his wife Victoria in north London.

There are elections in 143 council areas in England today.

You can use our postcode checker to check all the details in your area.

Local councils are responsible for providing many of our public services. For example:

• Providing care for the elderly and disabled people
• Fixing potholes on some roads
• Collecting rubbish
• Providing libraries
• Planning applications

Local councils are partly funded by central government, but they can also raise their own revenue through:

• Council tax - a compulsory charge on properties set by local councils
• Business rates - a tax put on properties used for commercial purposes

Some parts of England are covered by county councils, which cover an entire county, and district councils, which cover a smaller area within the county.

In other areas, one single body - sometimes known as a unitary authority- carries out all local government tasks.

In some places, parish or town councils operate under district councils or unitary authorities - they can have responsibility for local issues such as allotments and public clocks.

There are around 2,000 parish or town council elections with approximately 20,000 seats available.

Read more here in our really simple guide to the local elections

Image source, Getty Images

There are rules on what you can and cannot do when you go to cast your vote.

And due to social distancing, polling station will be set up a little differently.

Here’s our guide to the dos and don'ts on polling day.

Image source, PA

The First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, cast his vote this morning with his wife, Clare, in Cardiff.

Sixty seats are up for grabs in the Welsh Senedd.

Image source, Getty Images

Don't panic.

If you applied for a postal vote but have yet to return it, you can hand it into your local polling station before polls close at 22:00.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds voted at a Westminster polling station

All sorts of places are used as polling stations - from launderettes to windmills to pubs but the back of a car in Oxford deserves a prize for perhaps the most unconventional.

A quick-thinking church warden, realising he had overslept, opened up his car boot so people could cast their vote there.

By 0800 normal proceedings had resumed.

Today is not just about first-time voters - these furry friends have been making their debuts at polling stations around the country.