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Updates: Style guide

2024

25 October 2024 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance to 'Times' section to specify if it's "UK time" for users outside the UK.

28 June 2024 published amendments

A to Z

Added new term for Business Identifier Code (BIC) as agreed in style council

5 June 2024 published amendments

A to Z

Updated the N/A entry for accessibility.

4 April 2024 published amendments

A to Z

Updated guidance about suggesting a change or addition to the GOV.UK style guide.

5 February 2024 published amendments

A to Z

Added style guide entries for GOV.UK and WhatsApp.

Updated the 'bold' entry to clarify when and how bold should be used.

2023

28 November 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Added and updated style guide entries for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.

3 November 2023 published amendments

Technical content A to Z

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.

19 October 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance on alphanumeric entries to 'Lists'.

6 October 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Added ###USA Upper case. Not 'US'.

14 September 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Added new entry ‘crown servants’.

6 September 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance about how to use the GOV.UK One Login name and more information about using sign in or log in.

5 June 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Updated 'coronavirus (COVID-19)' entry to 'COVID-19'.

21 February 2023 published amendments

A to Z

Updated the 'Bank details' entry to clarify that bullet points should be used.

2022

26 July 2022 published amendments

A to Z

Added new entry ‘Addresses in the UK

Amended the entry for ‘Gender’, formally ‘Gender-neutral text’

7 July 2022 published amendments

A to Z

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.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

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.

18 May 2022 published amendments

A to Z

Added a new entry 'ethnic minorities'.

23 February 2022 published amendments

A to Z

Amended the 'Addressing the user' entry and added a new entry 'Gender-neutral text'.

7 February 2022 published amendments

A to Z

Updated entry for the Queen to remove ambiguity.

18 January 2022 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

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

8 December 2021 published amendments

A to Z

Clarified that Midlands is upper case.

26 November 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

Added 'people at higher risk'.

25 November 2021 published amendments

A to Z

Added alternatives to words to avoid for all entries.

10 November 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

Updated 'clinically extremely vulnerable' - do not use ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ or ‘CEV’ as people are no longer being identified as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’.

14 October 2021 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'and service names' under when to use sentence case under 'Capitalisation'.

13 October 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

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’.

2 September 2021 published amendments

A to Z

Corrected 'lower case' to 'sentence case' under 'Capitalisation'.

1 September 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

Added 'COVID-19 status', 'fully vaccinated', 'NHS COVID Pass' and 'vaccination status'. Added definition for 'antibody test'.

3 August 2021 published amendments

A to Z

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.

28 July 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

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’.

28 June 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

Added ‘variant’, ‘variant of concern’ and ‘variant under investigation’.

24 May 2021 published amendments

A to Z

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.

18 May 2021 published amendments

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

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.

6 April 2021 published amendments

A to Z

Updated 'coronavirus (COVID-19)' to direct to the new 'Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z' style guide.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z

New section added.

4 February 2021 published amendments

A to Z

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.

1 February 2021 published amendments

A to Z

Added references to Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru and Northern Ireland Assembly. Corrected outdated reference to 'Welsh Assembly'.

2020

11 November 2020 published amendments

A to Z

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.

15 September 2020 published amendments

A to Z

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)'.

22 July 2020 published amendments

A to Z

Added entries for terms to use instead of 'whitelist', 'blacklist', 'master' or 'slave'.

19 May 2020 published amendments

A to Z

Update the 'click' entry with guidance about using 'right-click'.

12 March 2020 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'coronavirus' to the style guide.

27 February 2020 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'disabled people' to the style guide, as well as a link to guidance on words to use and avoid when writing about disability.

27 January 2020 published amendments

A to Z

Added ‘transition period’ to the style guide.

6 January 2020 published amendments

A to Z

Clarified the rules on using American English.

2019

19 November 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Edited the rule for using capitalisation when referring to the general election.

21 October 2019 published amendments

A to Z

European Economic Area (EEA) - clarified you should say 'the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein' when rules covering the EEA also cover Switzerland

3 October 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Changed borough council styling to upper case in a name (from lower case in all instances)

Update to capitalisation of local councils: from lower case in all instances to using capitals for the official name of a local council.

18 September 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Clarified how to refer to organisations - Use the singular verb form when referring to organisations by name. Use 'they' when replacing an organisation name with a pronoun.

Added detail about avoiding the use of 'European Economic Area (EEA)' as it is not widely understood.

5 September 2019 published amendments

A to Z

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

6 August 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance on long lists of examples to the style guide

8 July 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Replaced 'EU Exit' with 'Brexit'.

27 June 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'customs union', 'implementation period' and 'Parliamentary report' to the style guide.

25 February 2019 published amendments

A to Z

Added zero-hours contract to the style guide.

2018

3 December 2018 published amendments

A to Z

Added EU Exit to the style guide.

2 October 2018 published amendments

A to Z

Added some notes on conventions commonly used by the tech writing community.

17 September 2018 published amendments

A to Z

Updated the hyphenation guidance to include a link to the Guardian style guide. This replaces Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors.

8 August 2018 published amendments

A to Z

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.

18 July 2018 published amendments

A to Z

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').

10 July 2018 published amendments

A to Z

Added ‘special adviser’ as an example under ‘adviser’.

16 April 2018 published amendments

A to Z

We've updated our guidance about contractions. We now recommend avoiding negative contractions like can't and don't.

8 February 2018 published amendments

A to Z

Link to the Economist style guide has been removed as it's no longer available for free.

19 January 2018 published amendments

A to Z

Updated 2 department names in ‘Capitals for government departments’ - Department of Health and Social Care, and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

2017

20 November 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Updates made under "Capitalisation" and "Titles"

9 November 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance on writing bank details.

8 November 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Clarified when to use of upper and lower case for online services.

23 October 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Lower case guidance updated under "Capitalisation"

1 August 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance about using the names in country and territory registers when referencing countries or territories on GOV.UK.

25 July 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added entry for blog post.

Added 'Welsh Government' and clarified when it's 'Government', not 'government'.

12 July 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Updated organisations entry to include an example of using 'they' as a pronoun.

15 June 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added an entry for 'fine'.

13 June 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'walkaround' (a daily check of large vehicles)

14 February 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added an example to the style of publication titles under 'Capitalisation'.

13 February 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added advice to not use semi-colons, including at the end of bullet points.

1 February 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Removed entry on Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay.

17 January 2017 published amendments

A to Z

Added our hierarchy of fallback style guides to 'about the A to Z'.

3 January 2017 published amendments

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

14 December 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Changed style from 'Wi-Fi' to 'wifi' to match common usage.

12 December 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Added entry for 'data'.

1 December 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Removed semicolons as a way of expanding on an item in bulleted lists.

29 November 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Expanded information under capitalisation to include 'autumn statement and spring statement'.

4 November 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Added an entry for 'N/A' (as in 'not applicable').

11 October 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Added information for 'budget' under 'Capitalisation'.

22 August 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'webchat' to the A to Z.

15 August 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Added more information about when to use 'midnight' and when to use '11:59pm' to refer to a specific time.

22 July 2016 published amendments

A to Z

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.

19 July 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Updated style guidance for 'eg, etc and ie'

18 March 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'log book' and 'sat nav'.

17 February 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Measurements: allowing exceptions for very specialist audiences

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.

15 February 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Modified entries for 'the Earth' and 'tax credits'.

10 February 2016 published amendments

A to Z

ADDED
###National Living Wage

Upper case.

ADDED
###National Minimum Wage

Upper case.

3 February 2016 published amendments

A to Z

Included guidance on using 'sign in' vs 'log in'.

Feedback

New section added.

2015

28 October 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance about brackets and plurals.

27 October 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Added guidance about using bold.

14 October 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Added lower case and upper case style under Statistics

14 September 2015 published amendments

A to Z

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.

28 July 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Changed wi-fi to WiFi

20 July 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Added new entry for Statistics with a link to the ONS style guide (http://style.ons.gov.uk/).

Added The Crown, the Royal Family, the Civil Service, Parliament, byelaw, schoolchildren, and em and en dashes.

13 February 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Department for Education changed 'priority school building programme' to lower case.

12 January 2015 published amendments

A to Z

Change notes added.

2014

30 October 2014 published amendments

A to Z

Added 'agile', 'Scrum' and 'kanban' to the A to Z list.

25 September 2014 published amendments

A to Z

Added the link to Great Britain from the Britain section.

24 September 2014 published amendments

A to Z of GOV.UK style

New section added.

Title to go here

New section added.