Guidance

Record and share information about public services in local authorities

Updated 9 August 2022

© Crown copyright 2022

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/record-and-share-information-about-public-services-in-local-authorities

Use the Open Referral UK data standard to record and share information about public services provided by local authorities.

1. Why government uses the standard

The Open Referral UK data standard defines a way of gathering and using local authorities public services data in a common and consistent directory structure. This makes the data as useful as possible for service users, and people providing local services.

Using the standard means you can:

  • collect information once and share it between government and public sector organisations, or their partner organisations
  • publish information easily, and find and use resource directory information among local councils, government organisations and voluntary bodies
  • exchange data between software products in a non-proprietary way, at minimal cost and without vendor lock-in

The government chooses standards using the open standards approval process and the Open Standards Board has final approval. Read more about the approval process for the Open Referral UK data standard.

2. How this standard meets user needs

Using the Open Referral UK data standards means you can make human and public services data easier to find. For example, your organisation can publish service directories that are searchable and easily integrated, helping citizens find local services to meet their health and social care needs.

You should use this standard if you work in government or in the public and private sectors and need to help your users find local services.

You can use the standard to help:

  • users of local services, including those who use services directly, or their carers
  • link workers, including social prescribers, who match people with the services they need to use
  • providers or administrators of local service directories
  • developers who need to connect local services data to build better services
  • members of the public

The Open Referral UK data standard meets government and user needs by:

  • defining a structure for human services data delivered primarily by local authorities
  • defining data elements to make a record of services users can query to find out if a service can help them
  • Providing a standardised query language which tools can use to find services across different organisations

3. How to use the standard

You can use the Open Referral UK data standard’s developer resources to:

Back to top