Planning content

Find out how to decide if something is suitable for GOV.UK, what the content lifecycle is and why accessibility must be planned for.

What to publish on GOV.UK

All content published on GOV.UK must have a clear user need backed up with evidence.

Content should be published either:

Content that does not do one of these things should not be published on GOV.UK.

What should not be published

The following types of content should not be published on GOV.UK:

  • content that repeats or significantly overlaps with existing content
  • advertising for commercial purposes
  • intranet or other services exclusively for civil servants
  • professional training or qualifications
  • information or advice that is not specific to government and can be provided by other organisations or charities, for example housing advice from Shelter or business help from the British Business Bank
  • legislation that’s on www.legislation.gov.uk
  • information from sites and agencies exempt from transition to GOV.UK
  • organisations and companies, like mutuals, that are not publicly owned
  • content only relevant to users in devolved parts of the UK (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)

Where to put guidance content on GOV.UK

Guidance is practical information that people need to complete a task or make a decision.

All guidance published on GOV.UK must have a clear user need (backed up with evidence) and be about something the government does (for example issuing passports or driving licences).

Before you create guidance content you must decide whether your users are:

  • members of the public (or small businesses) with no specialist skills or experience - ‘mainstream’ users
  • specialists who are trained or experienced

Guidance for mainstream users

Mainstream guidance:

  • is for the general public or small businesses
  • is written for users who do not have (and are not expected to have) any previous experience or specialist knowledge of the subject
  • guides users from when their need arises to when they complete a task or have the information they need to complete a task (this can include directing users to third-party organisations)
  • is organised and written by task, rather than audience or the government department or agency
  • explains the current situation - it only describes future changes if they are certain or very likely to happen and affect choices a user can make right now, for example if users should apply for something now because a scheme is closing or a service will be down for maintenance

Volume of users does not necessarily make something suitable or unsuitable for mainstream guidance.

Mainstream guidance must not:

  • duplicate content better served by other organisations (for example charities, the NHS, Citizens Advice)
  • give advice or offer opinions

Guidance for mainstream users is written and maintained by the content team at GDS.

Send a content request for new content or to make changes to existing content.

Guidance for specialist users

Specialist guidance:

  • is aimed at specific audiences who already have an understanding of the topic
  • assumes the user has some expert knowledge that will allow them to understand the guidance and take action
  • is created by government departments using Whitehall publisher

Specialist guidance does not:

  • promote government initiatives or policies - use the campaigns platform or other channels to support marketing or promotional activity, or use a news story or press release for announcements
  • explain the policy behind the guidance

Some users want to know the detail of policy, but analysis and research has shown that they’re rarely the same users as those looking for guidance.

The detail of policies should be in a policy paper or one of the other formats that help users understand what government is doing.

Specialist guidance should not duplicate mainstream guidance. It can include a specific part of a mainstream task if it only needs to be done by a small proportion of users. For example, it should not take specialist knowledge to understand how much National Insurance to pay, so this information is mainstream guidance. 

However, only some users will need to understand National Insurance for share fishermen, so this information is specialist guidance.

Publishing content on a new website (getting an exemption from GOV.UK)

You need to get approval from GDS before you create any new government website or public-facing domain. This approval is known as getting an ‘exemption’ and applies to both gov.uk and non-government domains (like org.uk, co.uk or .com).

Getting an exemption from GDS is not the only approval you’ll need. You must also make sure you have the correct spend approval before you create your website.

There’s separate guidance on:

How to request an exemption

Apply for an exemption from GOV.UK.

You’ll need to:

  • explain why your users’ needs cannot be met on GOV.UK, providing supporting evidence
  • confirm what domain name you plan to use
  • confirm that your department’s technology and digital leader has given their approval

Do not begin procurement of an external website until your exemption is confirmed and you have spend approval.

If you get an exemption

You’ll need spend approval even if you get an exemption.

Your website must also:

  • not duplicate or compete with existing content on either GOV.UK or other exempt government websites or services

  • have appropriate journeys to and from GOV.UK for relevant content

  • limit its scope to what was agreed for the exemption

You must also make sure your website meets:

GDS will carry out a full review of your website 6 months after you get your exemption to make sure it still meets the conditions agreed. If you do not meet the conditions, GDS has the right to close the website.

If you do not get an exemption

You cannot create your website if you do not get an exemption.

If you already created a website before you applied and you are not granted an exemption, you’ll need to work with GDS to shut it down and migrate appropriate content to GOV.UK.

Exemptions can be revoked. If this happens, you may have to work with GDS to migrate content to GOV.UK.

Migrate content and close your website

The steps to close your website are:

  1. Do a proposition audit - work with the GOV.UK Policy and Strategy team to identify whether any of the content from your website should be on GOV.UK.

  2. Do a content audit - work with the GOV.UK content design team at GDS to understand where content should go on GOV.UK, and whether it duplicates existing content on the website.

  3. Agree a date for website closure with GDS, based on the outputs from the 2 audits.

  4. Migrate content to GOV.UK - work with the GDS content design team to migrate relevant content to GOV.UK, and ensure that website redirects to GOV.UK are set up for the day of website closure.

You must make sure the National Archives holds a copy of the website before it closes.

Read the guidance on how to move content to GOV.UK before you start.

Content that helps users understand what government is doing

You need to make sure you choose the right content type when you create content about what government is doing.

There are over 40 content types on GOV.UK, each of which has been developed for a specific purpose.

To help you choose the right one, you should:

New government activity or policy: content types to use

These are the relevant formats to use when the government talks about what it’s doing. The following real life examples show how you might meet users’ needs for information about government policy. They’re intended as illustrations.

Top-level introductions to policy

Analysis and research shows there is little audience for top-level introductions to policy compared with task-focused guidance content.

However, sometimes there’s a need to explain government activity in brief, without going into the level of detail that users of the ‘policy paper’ format expect.

The best way to know how to publish this is to explore the user need more closely. How and why will users find this information? It’s bad content design practice to burden users with information that’s irrelevant to what they need right now.

Policy in guidance

Around 80% of page visits on GOV.UK are to guidance to help users complete a task or interaction with government. Research from the Nielsen Norman Group shows most people will not read background text that’s not relevant to the task they’re performing.

Some users want to know the detail of policy, but they are not the same users as people looking for guidance.

Guidance on how to apply for a programme or scheme should not include more than 1 or 2 sentences about what the programme is.

Guidance should not include:

  • why it exists (the problem being solved)
  • how much money has been allocated to it
  • who runs it
  • aspirational statements about the intended outcome

These should be in a policy paper or other formats explained in the scenarios in this guidance.

Scenario 1: announcing a new policy or activity

There are a number of formats you can use to tell users about a new policy or activity.

These formats include:

These are sufficient to announce something new until more specific information is available.

An example announcement is Government sets out plans to reshape workplace pensions.

Scenario 2: policy top-level introductions

Use a policy paper to set the context and reasoning behind a policy.

This means you can explain the intentions and research behind a policy separately from information about how it’s being implemented.

Scenario 3: government activity top-level introductions

If this information is brief, you can add it to a relevant corporate information page. For example, use a ‘Petitions and campaigns’ page for policy information about a campaign.

You can alternatively use a policy paper to explain what the government is doing about a particular policy or issue. This might include information about:

  • how the government is implementing a policy
  • how much money is being spent

You can group a number of related publications for a known audience in a document collection.

This allows users to find all the information about a distinct government activity in 1 place.

Scenario 4: more detail about an aspect of the policy

Detail about the policy should be part of a policy paper.

This could include:

  • the outcome the government is trying to achieve
  • actions the government is taking to achieve the outcome
  • why the government is doing this activity
  • the background to this policy
  • the budget and timescale for the policy actions

For example, How the Charity Commission solves safeguarding problems in charities.

Scenario 5: telling users that something may change in the future

To tell users that something is changing and they may need to do it differently in the future, use a news story. This includes new schemes they may be able to apply for or services they may be able to use.

Make sure this news story is user-focused. Make it as short and factual as possible. For example, Transit visa requirements are changing.

Scenario 6: telling users they may need to do something now to prepare for a change in the future

Sometimes a change to a policy, scheme or service will either:

  • mean that users need to do something to prepare
  • affect a major decision citizens or businesses need to make now

If there’s clear evidence of this, use guidance content to tell users about how upcoming changes will affect them now. You may also need to publish a short, factual, user-focused news story to announce the changes.

There’s guidance on how to plan and create content to help users prepare for policy changes.

When to communicate future changes

Only tell users about changes to policies, schemes or processes before they come into effect if all the following apply:

  • it’s certain or very likely that the change will happen
  • it affects decisions users are going to make now or very soon
  • there’s something different users will need to do (not just “be aware of” - for example, they’ll need to apply earlier or apply for a different scheme)

Do not publish ‘everything you need to know’ pages for specific audiences as these are never comprehensive and can be hard to navigate.

Use the guidance on helping users prepare for policy changes.

When to do user research

Do user research when you’re:

  • starting a new project
  • improving existing content

Use user research to:

  • find out what users need
  • test assumptions you have about what users need

The resources for user researchers explains the different types of user research and when they’re helpful.

Understanding the content lifecycle

Check the content retention and withdrawal (‘archiving’) policy to see if/when content should be retired.

To find out what content exists already, you can export a CSV (comma separated file) by using:

  • the ‘Export as CSV’ link at the bottom right of the documents list in Whitehall publisher
  • the ‘Download all data in CSV format’ link at the bottom left of the table on the search page in Content Data

You can filter the lists before you export them.

You can also add a review date to your content so it can be reviewed and maintained over time. On the date of review, you’ll be sent an email notification to check the content.

Accessibility

GOV.UK content and services need to be as accessible and usable as possible. Government has a legal obligation to make sure people can access the information we produce. This includes users with visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments, as well as those with learning difficulties.

Refer to guidance on designing accessible content.

You can also explore other government digital accessibility guidance and sign up to get digital accessibility guidance updates.

Open formats

Documents created in open formats can be opened with either free or paid-for software.

This means they:

  • can be read and used by more people
  • help people to share their work more easily
  • make it easier and cheaper to do business with government

The government is committed to publishing documents (including text, presentations, charts and graphs) using open standards.

You are legally required to publish an accessible version with a PDF or other non-HTML document.

Read more about publishing accessible documents.

Whitehall Publisher: publishing documents designed to be viewed

The document ‘viewing’ standards apply to documents that users are meant to read, rather than to edit or interact with.

Publish Whitehall documents in HTML if they are designed to be viewed (rather than edited, such as a form). For example, a corporate report.

Whitehall Publisher: publishing documents designed to be edited

If users need to input information, create an OpenDocument (for example .odt or .ods) and publish it with a version in at least one other format. Whichever other format you choose, you must make it as accessible as possible.

You must give users more than one format to choose from. This is to make sure they can access the information without the need for certain software. OpenDocuments are more accessible than PDFs for users of assistive technologies but there are issues opening some format types on some devices.

You must also let the users know how to contact you to request a different accessible version of the form. You can do this by leaving the ‘Attachment is accessible’ box unticked for all versions of the form when you upload them. This is important even if you publish accessible versions - some users will always need information in other formats, like British Sign Language (BSL), audio or braille.

You must keep the formatting simple in your OpenDocument. Read about how to create an OpenDocument with simple formatting.

You may also want to talk to your organisation’s digital team about creating a digital service so the user can provide the information online.

Whitehall publisher: publishing documents designed for print

You can publish a PDF if it’s a document which was designed to be printed and read on paper, for example, promotional material, a booklet or a leaflet.

You are legally required to publish an accessible version with it - either HTML or OpenDocument.

Whitehall Publisher: Easy Read and unsupported languages

It is not currently possible to publish HTML Easy Read format documents with the image on the left and the text on the right. Use PDF and follow the Easy Read format guidance. Make sure you provide a way for users to request an accessible version.

If a language is not supported in HTML by Whitehall Publisher, for example Albanian or Bosnian, you should publish your document in both .odt and PDF format if possible. If your document contains read-only information, you can publish it as a PDF. Make sure you provide a way for users to request an accessible version.

Specialist Publisher

HTML is not available in Specialist Publisher. Publish an OpenDocument along with the Word or Excel source document.

There is one exception to publishing OpenDocuments in Specialist Publisher: documents that could be misused if edited can be published as PDF. Examples of this are:

Other GOV.UK publishing platforms

For documents designed to be viewed, publish in HTML where the publishing platform allows it.

For documents designed to be edited, publish in OpenDocument format.

HTML is not available in Travel Advice Publisher - you should publish OpenDocuments.

Data

The open standards principles do not apply to datasets designed only to be machine readable by external software.

If you currently publish data as .csv files, it’s fine to continue doing this.

If you need to publish structured data like tables or spreadsheets, you should use:

  • .ods - an open format that can be used in free, open or proprietary licensed software
  • .csv - a machine-readable format which enables users to process the data it contains

Do not use .csv files for data that people (rather than machines) need to read.

Avoid publishing statistical tables or datasets within a PDF or other format designed mainly for text. This is because it makes it difficult for users who rely on assistive technology such as screen readers which speak the text on a page. This can include visually impaired and Dyslexic people. Instead, try to provide them separately using .ods or .csv.

The Government Statistical Service has published detailed guidance on releasing statistics in accessible spreadsheets.

URLs

GOV.UK URLs (web addresses) are designed to follow a consistent, predictable, user-friendly format.

Most URLs are generated automatically when a page is created in Whitehall publisher. However, short or ‘friendly’ URLs are sometimes created for promotional purposes. If you need a short URL, you need to: