Calls for evidence

Create, update and conclude a call for evidence on GOV.UK.

Before you create a call for evidence, make sure that you are not carrying out (or required to carry out) a consultation. You may wish to refer to the Consultation Principles or speak to your legal advisers. There could be legal consequences if you create a call for evidence when you are carrying out a consultation.

If you need to publish a consultation, there’s separate guidance on consultations

Call for evidence lifecycle

A call for evidence stays on the same page of GOV.UK throughout its lifecycle. The status starts as ‘Open’ and changes to ‘Closed’ on the closing date you specify. If you upload an outcome, it will change to ‘Closed with outcome’. The contact details will also disappear.

Create a call for evidence

  1. Select ‘Save and go to document summary’ to add topic tagging.

  2. Add a title and summary and enter some body copy of no more than 100 words which summarises the call for evidence.

  3. Enter the opening and closing dates.

  4. If the call for evidence is held on another website, select the box and enter the URL of the website.

  5. Under ‘Ways to respond’, add the contact details for public responses. If you’re providing a downloadable response form, use the ‘Downloadable response form title’ field and the ‘Choose file’ button to add it here.

  6. The email address for ordering attachment files in an alternative format should automatically be your organisation. If this is not the case, select the correct organisation from the dropdown menu.

  7. If there are any ministers or topical events related to your call for evidence, use the drop down menu to assign ministers and topical events.

  8. Select the nations this call for evidence applies to. If it doesn’t apply to a nation, select the country, then enter the URL of the corresponding content.

  9. The call for evidence will automatically be tagged to your organisation. If more organisations are involved you can tag them under ‘Lead organisations’ and ‘Supporting organisations’.

  10. Schedule the publication for the opening date. Select the box next to ‘Schedule for publication’ and enter the date in the boxes that appear.

  11. Select ‘Save’ to go to the edition summary page, or ‘Save and continue’ to add topic tagging. The attachments tab will not appear until you have saved the document.

  12. Select ‘Edit draft’ to edit the document and add attachments.

Upload the call for evidence document

Upload the main call for evidence document, plus any relevant supporting documents using the following steps.

You must save the summary before you can add attachments.

  1. Select the ‘Attachments’ tab.
  2. Select ‘Upload new file attachments’.
  3. Enter the title of your document in the ‘Title’ field.
  4. Select ‘Choose file’ to upload your document.
  5. Select ‘Save’.
  6. Select the ‘Document’ tab.
  7. Select ‘Save and go to document summary’. You can then choose to add topic tagging.
  8. Select ‘Submit for 2nd eyes’. The editor reviewing the page will need to select ‘Schedule’ in order for the consultation to go live at the scheduled time. If it has not been scheduled for publication, they will select ‘Publish’.

When the call for evidence reaches its closing date the status changes to ‘Closed’.

Uploading an outcome

You must save the summary before you can add attachments. Select the ‘Outcome’ tab.

  1. Select the published date using the dropdown menu.
  2. Enter a short summary of the outcome in the summary field.
  3. Select Save.

Upload a file attachment

  1. Select ‘Upload new file attachment’ link.
  2. Enter the title of your attachment in the title field.
  3. Select ‘Choose file’ to select the attachment.
  4. Select ‘Save’.
  5. If you have multiple attachments, you can reorder them by selecting the ‘Reorder attachments’ link.

Upload an HTML attachment

  1. Select ‘Add new HTML attachment’ link.
  2. Enter the title of your page in the title field.
  3. Enter the body in the body field. You can use Markdown to format your text.
  4. Select the ‘Preview’ button to check your formatting.
  5. Select ‘Save’.
  6. If you have multiple attachments, you can reorder them by selecting the ‘Reorder attachments’ link.