Website content policy and accessibility guidance

This guide covers some of the most common style issues within our published content.

For a full list of styles, spelling and grammar conventions, follow the GOV.UK style guide.

• use initial capitals for full names of organisations or places (for example, Lincolnshire County Council; Lincoln Castle)
• use lower case for commonly used names of organisations or places (for example, the council; the castle)
• British English standard spelling, -ise not –ize
• write in an active voice, not passive (avoid the use of ‘please’)
• use built-in headings:
  • in Microsoft Word for all headings and subheadings (under Home tab – default black and white)
  • in the website CMS, a page must include only one 'heading level one'. Jadu typically applies the 'heading level one' automatically, therefore, documents should start with 'heading level two' onwards
• ‘website’, ‘email’ and ‘internet’ are one word, lower case (except at the start of a sentence)
• use double quotes for reported speech and when referring to an excerpt from a quote
• single quotes are only used in page titles
• all common nouns should be written in lower case. For example, ‘headteacher’. Proper nouns should be capitalised, for example, ‘Mr Smith’ which can also be used as meta tags – concise and descriptive
• no exclamation marks, block capitals, italics or underlines for emphasis
• use left justify for text
• do not use footnotes - insert the additional note at the relevant point in the main body of text. For example, do not use an asterisk (*) to indicate there is a further explanation at the bottom of the page, instead, put the further information immediately next to the relevant part of the text
• bold text should be used sparingly. It is intended to help users identify key information or interface elements, not for general emphasis. Excessive bolding reduces readability for users, including those with dyslexia or using screen reader

Addresses

• write street numbers, names and postcodes
• do not use punctuation
• always write out Street (not St), Road (not Rd)
• when letters are included, always lower case (221b Baker Street)

Numbers

• one to nine written out, 10 upwards in numbers with the following exceptions:
  • you are talking about a step or point in a list (for example, in point 5 of the text)
  • century always write out (for example, nineteenth century)
  • bus numbers (for example, bus 5, 6, 7 or 27)
  • times, 6pm, 9pm, 5.30pm (for example, to event starts at 6.30pm but finishes at 8pm)
  • where it would be inconsistent (for example, children aged 4-10 rather than four-10)
  • where unit of measurement is abbreviated (for example, km)
  • a name of software (for example, Internet Explorer 5)
  • 60s not 1960s, and not 60's
• always use figures with decimal points and percentages
• use symbols with figures (for example, £243.57)
• spell out amounts of objects over one hundred thousand (for example, three million people).  The rule of figures over 10 still applies (for example, 12 billion people)
• use figures for amounts of money over one hundred thousand (for example, £3 million, £5 billion)
• avoid numbers at the beginning of sentences. If this is not possible always write it in full

Currency

• prices should have the currency first, then number (for example, £9.99, £10,000)
• do not include a decimal point for whole number (for example, £5)
• millions should be written as £1 million, £1.5 million

Tables

• apply header rows to tables:
  • in Microsoft word ensure header rows repeat between pages (within a table, select layout tab and repeat header rows)
  • in the website CMS ensure table headers include the 'scope' attribute for assistive technology
• do not split or merge cells
• do not have any blank cells, rows or columns
• do not use nested tables
• use tables for presenting data, not layout
• write all words in full, for example ‘No.’ should say ‘number’

Example

Here is a table showing the number of different animals in three different farms. 

Woodchurch, Moat and Jenkey are the column headers. Together they form the header row.  

Sheep, Cows and Pigs are the row headers. Together they form the header column. 

Dates

• should follow the format: day date month year (Monday 1 January 2024)
• do not use date suffixes st, nd, rd, th

Times

• use am or pm, no space (for example, 9am, 7pm)
• use a full stop to separate hours and minutes (for example, 5.30pm)
• Use 12 noon and 12 midnight, not 12am or 12pm
• don’t use 24-hour format to present time

Distances and measurements

• conversions (in brackets) should be provided where useful - for example, 16km (10 miles)
• write out measurements when using numbers (one to nine) - for example, eight kilometres (five miles)
• use abbreviations (mm, cm, m, km) when using numbers 10 and over – for example 80km (50 miles)
• always write out miles, inches, hectares and acres
• when describing area metrics – use sq ft, sq metres, sq miles, sq kilometres

Abbreviations

• do not abbreviate days and months
• do not use full stops in abbreviations or spaces between initials, (for example, BBC, mph)
• spell out less well-known abbreviations first time followed by the abbreviation in brackets
• it is not necessary to spell out well-known ones, such as EU, UN, US, BBC, CD
• acronyms take initial cap: Aids, Isa, Mori, Unison
• use all caps only if the abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters

And or &

• only use & where it is part of an official title or name (for example, Marks & Spencer)
• do not use & for services (for example fire and rescue)

Bullet points

• useful for breaking up chunks of text and clarifying it
• they serve the same purpose as a semi-colon or comma in continuous text
• should start with initial lower-case, no full stop (including for final point)
• should have no double-line spacing between them
• should be prioritised and, where possible, should not run to more than one line and contain one sentence
• do not put ‘or’ or ‘and’ after the bullets
• do not put a semicolon at the end of a bullet

Buttons

We use buttons to help users carry out an action like starting an application or saving their information. You can read more about button styles and writing button text on the GOV.UK website.

Underlining

Do not underline text or headings as this could be confused with a hyperlink.

Common mistakes

• council is singular (for example, ‘the council is’ not ‘the council are’)
• do not use self-referential terms such as 'click here' or 'follow this link'
• do not use words that date content such as ‘new’ and ‘tomorrow’
• do not use named emailed addresses or phone numbers. Team email addresses only
• do not use 'see below' or 'see on the right' as different devices show content in different places

Last reviewed: Wednesday 1 July