Updates: Style guide
2024
2023
Added and updated style guide entries for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.
We've added a technical content style guide which covers the style, structure and terms you should use when writing content for technical users on GOV.UK.
Added guidance on alphanumeric entries to 'Lists'.
Added ###USA Upper case. Not 'US'.
Added new entry ‘crown servants’.
Added guidance about how to use the GOV.UK One Login name and more information about using sign in or log in.
Updated 'coronavirus (COVID-19)' entry to 'COVID-19'.
Updated the 'Bank details' entry to clarify that bullet points should be used.
2022
Added new entry ‘Addresses in the UK
Amended the entry for ‘Gender’, formally ‘Gender-neutral text’
Added new entries for coronavirus (COVID-19) and critical worker. These have been moved from the coronavirus (COVID-19) style guide which has now been retired.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) style guide has been retired. The entries for coronavirus (COVID-19) and critical worker can now be found in the GDS style guide https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style.
Added a new entry 'ethnic minorities'.
Amended the 'Addressing the user' entry and added a new entry 'Gender-neutral text'.
Updated entry for the Queen to remove ambiguity.
Updated ‘variant’ entry with guidance about using the World Health Organization (WHO) variant label at the first mention in content, either with or without the lineage if the variant is well known.
Removed ‘Amber list’, ‘Bounce Back Loan’, ‘Childcare bubble’, ‘Green list’, ‘Job Retention Bonus’, ‘Shielding’, ‘Support bubble’, ‘Support group’, ‘Support network’ and ‘Travel corridor list’.
2021
Clarified that Midlands is upper case.
Added 'people at higher risk'.
Added alternatives to words to avoid for all entries.
Updated 'clinically extremely vulnerable' - do not use ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ or ‘CEV’ as people are no longer being identified as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’.
Added 'and service names' under when to use sentence case under 'Capitalisation'.
Added 'long COVID'. Changed ‘R number’ to ‘reproduction number (R)' - use ‘reproduction number (R)’ the first time it’s used, then refer to ‘R value’ after that. Do not use ‘R number’ as ‘R’ already means ‘reproduction number’.
Corrected 'lower case' to 'sentence case' under 'Capitalisation'.
Added 'COVID-19 status', 'fully vaccinated', 'NHS COVID Pass' and 'vaccination status'. Added definition for 'antibody test'.
Clarified rule when writing about county courts. Use lower case when writing about county courts in general. Use capitals when part of a proper noun.
Added new entries: ‘daily contact testing’, ‘mobile test unit’, ‘Royal Mail barcode’, ‘Royal Mail priority postbox’, ‘test kit barcode’, ‘test order ID’, ‘test site’, ‘test subject ID’ and ‘surge testing’.
Added definitions for ‘contact tracing’ and ‘NHS Test and Trace service’.
Added ‘variant’, ‘variant of concern’ and ‘variant under investigation’.
Amended ‘Brexit’ to clarify that it’s better to use specific dates, unless referring to Brexit historically.
Added ‘Withdrawal Agreement’ to make clear to avoid linking to the legal document from guidance content.
Added ‘red list’, ‘amber list’ and ‘green list’. Updated ‘self-isolating’ and ‘quarantine’. Use ‘self-isolating’ for people who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, a positive COVID-19 test or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive. Use ‘quarantine’ for people who’ve arrived from a country or territory on the red list or amber list and must quarantine.
Updated 'coronavirus (COVID-19)' to direct to the new 'Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z' style guide.
New section added.
Clarified rule when writing about local councils. Use lower case when writing about local councils in general. Use capitals for the official name of a local council.
Added references to Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru and Northern Ireland Assembly. Corrected outdated reference to 'Welsh Assembly'.
2020
Use 'Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland)' when 'UK' is not appropriate because you're not including Northern Ireland. Where possible, make a specific point of saying that Northern Ireland is not included in this group.
Removed 3 department names in ‘Capitals for government departments’ - Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Added 'Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)'.
Added entries for terms to use instead of 'whitelist', 'blacklist', 'master' or 'slave'.
Update the 'click' entry with guidance about using 'right-click'.
Added 'coronavirus' to the style guide.
Added 'disabled people' to the style guide, as well as a link to guidance on words to use and avoid when writing about disability.
Added ‘transition period’ to the style guide.
Clarified the rules on using American English.
2019
Edited the rule for using capitalisation when referring to the general election.
European Economic Area (EEA) - clarified you should say 'the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein' when rules covering the EEA also cover Switzerland
Update to capitalisation of local councils: from lower case in all instances to using capitals for the official name of a local council.
Added detail about avoiding the use of 'European Economic Area (EEA)' as it is not widely understood.
CHANGED:
- if you add links they appear within the text and not as the whole bullet
TO:
- you do not make the whole bullet a link if it's a long phrase
Added guidance on long lists of examples to the style guide
Replaced 'EU Exit' with 'Brexit'.
Added 'customs union', 'implementation period' and 'Parliamentary report' to the style guide.
Added zero-hours contract to the style guide.
2018
Added EU Exit to the style guide.
Added some notes on conventions commonly used by the tech writing community.
Updated the hyphenation guidance to include a link to the Guardian style guide. This replaces Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors.
Changed the style guide to allow the use of bold for instructions. For example, you can use bold to explain what field a user needs to fill in on a form, or what button they need to select.
Clarified use of bullet points where it's necessary to explain if all or some of the points apply.
Updated 'User ID' to 'user ID' (lower case 'user').
Added ‘special adviser’ as an example under ‘adviser’.
We've updated our guidance about contractions. We now recommend avoiding negative contractions like can't and don't.
Link to the Economist style guide has been removed as it's no longer available for free.
Updated 2 department names in ‘Capitals for government departments’ - Department of Health and Social Care, and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2017
Updates made under "Capitalisation" and "Titles"
Added guidance on writing bank details.
Clarified when to use of upper and lower case for online services.
Lower case guidance updated under "Capitalisation"
Added guidance about using the names in country and territory registers when referencing countries or territories on GOV.UK.
Added 'Welsh Government' and clarified when it's 'Government', not 'government'.
Updated organisations entry to include an example of using 'they' as a pronoun.
Added an entry for 'fine'.
Added 'walkaround' (a daily check of large vehicles)
Added an example to the style of publication titles under 'Capitalisation'.
Added advice to not use semi-colons, including at the end of bullet points.
Removed entry on Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay.
Added our hierarchy of fallback style guides to 'about the A to Z'.
Updated ampersand entry. Use an ampersand in a company's name if that's how it appears on the Companies House register.
2016
Changed style from 'Wi-Fi' to 'wifi' to match common usage.
Added entry for 'data'.
Removed semicolons as a way of expanding on an item in bulleted lists.
Expanded information under capitalisation to include 'autumn statement and spring statement'.
Added an entry for 'N/A' (as in 'not applicable').
Added information for 'budget' under 'Capitalisation'.
Added 'webchat' to the A to Z.
Added more information about when to use 'midnight' and when to use '11:59pm' to refer to a specific time.
Removed or replaced all instances of eg, ie and etc (except for the entries on eg, ie and etc). Stripped out inverted commas where it doesn't harm comprehension.
Updated style guidance for 'eg, etc and ie'
Added 'log book' and 'sat nav'.
Changed:
###online services
Lower case unless part of a proper noun. HMRC Online Services should be upper case when referred to in full. Equally if you want to refer to a named service, it should be upper case, eg ‘Submit your company tax return using Corporation Tax Online’.
To:
###online services
Lower case unless part of a proper noun. HMRC Online Services should be upper case when referred to in full. Equally if you want to refer to a named service, it should be upper case, eg 'Submit your Company Tax Return using Corporation Tax Online'.
Changed:
###tax returns
Upper case the first time they are mentioned (for example: ‘Company Tax Return’, ‘Partnership Tax Return’, ‘Employer Annual Return’). After that refer to them in full, or if it’s clear what you’re referring to, simply as a ‘return’. General references to tax return are always in lower case.
When referring to the legal requirement we use ‘deliver’ or ‘file’ the return. Online, we say ‘submit’ the return. For Self Assessment (paper or online) use ‘send’ or ‘file’ the return. ‘Send’ is better.
To:
###tax returns
Upper case when referring to proper titles for the first time (for example: ‘Company Tax Return’, ‘Partnership Tax Return’, ‘Employer Annual Return’). Use ‘Self Assessment tax return’ at first mention, as it’s not a proper title.
After that refer to them in full, or if it’s clear what you’re referring to, simply as a ‘return’. General references to tax return are always in lower case.
When referring to the legal requirement we use ‘deliver’ or ‘file’ the return. Online, we say ‘submit’ the return. For Self Assessment (paper or online) use ‘send’ or ‘file’ the return. ‘Send’ is better.
Changed:
###Self Assessment tax return
Use ‘Self Assessment tax return’ the first time it’s mentioned on a page. After that use ‘tax return’.
To:
###Self Assessment tax return
See tax returns.
Modified entries for 'the Earth' and 'tax credits'.
2015
Added guidance about brackets and plurals.
Added guidance about using bold.
Added lower case and upper case style under Statistics
Added '6 hours 30 minutes' under Times.
Added statement not to use spaces before abbreviated measurements under Measurements.
Added not to label email addresses under Email addresses.
Changed wi-fi to WiFi
Added The Crown, the Royal Family, the Civil Service, Parliament, byelaw, schoolchildren, and em and en dashes.
Department for Education changed 'priority school building programme' to lower case.
Change notes added.
2014
Added 'agile', 'Scrum' and 'kanban' to the A to Z list.
Added the link to Great Britain from the Britain section.