A to Z content style guide

These style points apply to all content published on bracknell-forest.gov.uk.

It includes:

• guidance on specific points of style, such as abbreviations and numbers
• bracknell-forest.gov.uk style for specific words and phrases, in terms of spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation

If there’s a point of style that is not covered here, check the GOV.UK style guide or the Guardian style guide.

You can search the style guide by:

1. Selecting ‘show all sections’.
2. Pressing Ctrl+f on your keyboard if you’re using a PC or ⌘+f if you’re using a Mac.
3. Typing the word or search term that you’re looking for.

A*, A*s

The top grade in A levels. Use the symbol * not the word ‘star’. No apostrophe in the plural.

A level

No hyphen. Lower case level.

Abbreviations and acronyms

The first time you use an abbreviation or acronym explain it in full. For example:

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

Don’t use an acronym if you’re not going to use it again later in the text.

You do not need to do this where the abbreviation or acronym is more widely know than the full name. For example: UK, EU, VAT.

Don’t use full stops in abbreviations. For example, BBC, not B.B.C.

academy

Only use upper case when referring to the name of an academy, like Mossbourne Community Academy. See also Titles.

academy trust

Lower case.

Active voice

Use the active rather than the passive voice. For example:

• active voice – we will make a decision
• passive voice – a decision will be made

Addresses in the UK

Start each part of the address on a new line. You should:

• write the town and postcode on separate lines
• not use commas at the end of each line
• write the country on the line after the postcode, not before
• only include a country if there is a reasonable chance that the user will be writing to the address from a different country

For example:

Bracknell Forest Council
Time Square
Market Street
Bracknell
RG12 1JD
United Kingdom

Addressing the user

Address the user as ‘you’ where possible. Avoid using gendered pronouns like ‘he’ and ‘she’.

Use direct appeals to citizens and businesses to get them involved or to take action. For example:

‘Pay your brown bin collection charge'

‘Tell the council you are moving’

advice or advise

Use the correct form. They are not interchangeable.

• advice – noun, I gave my friend a piece of advice
• advise – verb, I advise you not to go

adviser or advisor

Use adviser but advisory still correct.

advise

Use ‘tell’ instead where possible.

ages

Do not use hyphens in ages unless to avoid confusion, although it’s always best to write in a way that avoids ambiguity.

For example, ‘a class of 15 16-year-old students took the A level course’ can be written as ‘15 students aged 16 took the A level course’. 

Use ‘aged 4 to 16 years’, not ‘4-16 years’.

Avoid using ‘the over 50s’ or ‘under 18s’. Instead, make it clear who’s included: ‘aged 50 years and over’ and ‘aged 17 and under’.

Alternative text

Images that convey meaning and are not purely decorative must have alt text.

This must be a meaningful description of the image for somebody using a screenreader.

Follow the guidance provided by GOV.UK for writing alt text.

American and UK English

Use UK English spelling and grammar. For example, use ‘organise’ not ‘organize’, ‘modelling’ not ‘modeling’, and ‘fill in a form’, not ‘fill out a form’.

American proper nouns, like 4th Mechanized Brigade or Pearl Harbor, take American English spelling.

Ampersand

Use ‘and’ rather than an ‘&’ unless it’s a company’s name as it appears on the Companies House register.

antisocial

No hyphen.

apprenticeship programme

Lower case.

Any

Consider if you need to use the word 'any' or if the meaning is the same without it.

From: We will not give them any of your personal details.

To: We will not give them your personal details.

Apostrophes

Don’t put apostrophes in abbreviated plurals. For example, PCs, 1990s.

Make sure you know the difference between: It’s a sunny day (where ‘it’s’ means it is), and the cat chased its tail (where its shows ownership or belonging).

armed forces

Lower case.

Artificial intelligence

Write first as artificial intelligence (AI) then AI throughout.

Bank details

When adding bank details:

• do not use a table - use bullet points and a lead-in line instead
• use spaces rather than hyphens in sort codes - 60 70 80 (not 60-70-80)
• do not use spaces in account numbers unless they are very long, (like an International Bank Account Number)

For example:

Transfer the fee to the following account within 5 working days of emailing your form:

• Bracknell Forest Borough Council
• Bank: Lloyds Bank Plc, Bracknell
• Sort code: 30-91-11
• Account number: 00024811

billions

Always use billion in money (and million): £138 billion.

Use billions in phrases: billions of people.

Do not abbreviate billion to b.

board

Always lower case unless it’s part of a proper title.

So upper case for the Judicial Executive Board, but lower case for the DFT’s management board.

Bold

Use bold sparingly - using too much will make it difficult for users to know which parts of your content they need to pay the most attention to.

To emphasise words or phrases, you can:

• front-load sentences
• use headings
• use bullets

borough council

Lower case except in a name.

Reading Borough Council

Brackets

Use (round brackets).

Do not use round brackets to refer to something that could either be singular or plural, like ‘Check which document(s) you need to send to DVLA.’

Always use the plural instead, as this will cover each possibility: ‘Check which documents you need to send to DVLA.’

Use [square brackets] for explanatory notes in reported speech or for placeholder text:

“Thank you [Foreign Minister] Mr Smith.”

“Witnessed by [signature of witness].”

Brexit

You can use the term ‘Brexit’ to provide historical context, but it’s better to use specific dates where possible. For example, use:

• ‘31 December 2020’ rather than ‘Brexit’ or ‘when the UK left the EU’
• ‘before 31 December 2020’ rather than ‘during the transition period’
• ‘after 1 January 2021’ rather than ‘after the transition period’

Bullet points and steps

Use bullet points to make text easier to read. Make sure that:

• you use a lead-in line where appropriate
• the bullets make sense running on from any lead-in line
• you use lower case at the start of the bullet
• you don’t use more than one sentence per bullet point - use commas or dashes to expand on an item
• you don’t put ‘or’ or ‘and’ after the bullets
• you do not make the whole bullet a link if it’s a long phrase
• you do not put a semicolon at the end of a bullet
• there is no full stop after the last bullet point

Bullets should normally form a complete sentence following from the lead text. But it’s sometimes necessary to add a short phrase to clarify whether all or some of the points apply. For example, ‘You can only register a pension scheme that is one of the following:’

Steps

Use numbered steps instead of bullet points to guide a user through a process. 

Each step starts with a capital letter and ends in a full stop. Each step should be a complete sentence.

C of E

For Church of England when referring to school names.

Cabinet

When referring to the council's Cabinet, use upper case.

Capital letters

DO NOT USE BLOCK CAPITALS FOR LARGE AMOUNTS OF TEXT AS IT’S HARD TO READ.

Always use sentence case, even in page titles and service names. The exceptions to this are proper nouns, including:

• full titles for conferences, strategy documents, publications
• department names, for example, 'Resources'
• team names, for example, 'Digital Services'
• buildings
• place names
• brand names
• titles of specific acts or bills, for example, 'Housing Reform Bill' (but use ‘the act’ or ‘the bill’ after the first time you use the full act or bill title)
• names of specific, named government schemes known to people outside government: Right to Buy, King’s Awards for Enterprise
• header cells in tables for example, 'Annual profits'
• titles of books (and within single quotes), for example, ‘The Study Skills Handbook’
• World War 1 and World War 2 (note caps and numbers)

When referring to the council, the word ‘council’ should be lower case.

When referring to bank holiday, this should be lower case.

Sentence case should be used for headings.

Do not capitalise:

• government
• budget
• sections or schedules within specific named acts, regulations or orders
• director general (no hyphen), deputy director, director, unless in a specific job title
• group and directorate, unless referring to a specific group or directorate: the Communities Directorate, for example
• departmental board, executive board, the board
• policy themes like sustainable communities, promoting economic growth, local enterprise zones
• the military

chairman, chairwoman, chairperson

Lower case in text. Upper case in titles.

Use chair or chairperson, not gendered versions.

care worker

Two words. Lower case.

CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System)

The acronym should come first as it’s more widely known than the full name.

checkbox

Not “check box”.

Child Benefit

Upper case.

Child Tax Credit

Upper case, but generic references to tax credits are lower case.

childcare

Lower case.

Childcare Grant

Upper case.

childminder, childminding

One word.

click

Don’t use “click” when talking about user interfaces because not all users click. Use “select”.

You can use “right-click” if the user needs to right-click to open up a list of options to progress through the user journey.

CO2

Use capital letters and a regular 2.

community, voluntary and foundation schools

Lower case.

Complete

If for a form, use 'fill in' instead.

Contact information

Contact details should be added to the contact information box on each page, if required. They must be the details of the service team relating to that page.

Within the main Bracknell Forest site, contact details should be the minimum required, so name and contact information, unless full contact details, including address, are required for the purpose of a customer action.

Contact information within page content

If contact details need to be shown on the page content for the purpose of customer transactions, please set out the details as follows:

You can get in contact by:

• making an online enquiry
• email: customer.services@bracknell-forest.gov.uk 
• phone: 01344 352000
• post: Time Square

Phone and post should only be used where there is no online alternative or a customer has to use these options to transact.

Contact information - news

News stories should not show contact information in a contact box unless there is a specific need for contact.

Contractions

Avoid negative contractions like can’t and don’t. Many users find them harder to read, or misread them as the opposite of what they say.

Use cannot, instead of can’t.

Avoid should’ve, could’ve, would’ve, they’ve too. These can also be hard to read.

co-operation

Hyphenated.

Commas

Look at BBC BiteSize for short guidance on comma usage.

commence

Do not use. Use ‘start’ or ‘begin’ as appropriate.

community, voluntary and foundation schools

Lower case.

co-operation

Hyphenated.

council

Use lower case when writing about local councils in general.

Use capitals for the official name of a local council. For example:

Bracknell Forest Council

Council Tax

Upper case.

COVID-19

Upper case.

Do not use:

• ‘Covid-19’ with only the first letter capitalised
• ‘covid-19’ lower case
• ‘coronavirus’ as ‘COVID-19’ is the specific condition

cyber bullying

Two words. Lower case.

data

Treat as a singular noun. For example:

The data is stored on a secure server.

Dates

The format for dates should be Day Month Year, with no commas or suffixes.

28 March 2025

Other rules for dates are:

• use upper case for months (January, February)
• don’t use a comma if you include a day of the week
• don’t use a comma between the month and year (14 June 2012)
• when space is an issue, for example, in tables, you can use truncated months (Jan, Feb, Mar)
• don’t use ‘quarter’ for dates; use the months, for example: ‘expenses, Jan to Mar 2013’ 
• when referring to today (as in a news article) include the date: ‘It was announced today (14 June 2012) that…’

Date ranges

Use ‘to’ in date ranges. Do not use hyphens, en rules or em dashes.

Do:

• Primary application form 2021 to 2022
• Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
• 10 November to 21 December

Don't:

• Primary application form 2021 - 2022
• Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm
• 10 November - 21 December

department

Lower case except when in the title. For example:

the Department of Health and Social Care

Direct Debit

Upper case.

Direct Debit Instruction

Upper case.

director

Lower case in text. Upper case in titles. For example:

Kevin Gibbs, Executive Director

disabled people

Not ‘the disabled’ or ‘people with disabilities’.

Read more about words to use and avoid when writing about disability.

Read more about creating inclusive content from the Readability Guidelines.

district council

Lower case even in a name. For example:

Warwick district council

early career teacher (ECT)

Lower case.

early years

Lower case.

early years foundation stage (EYFS)

Lower case.

education, health and care plan

Lower case.

eg, etc and ie

Use full words rather than notations. Some customers will not be familiar with the meaning.

eg

Use an alternative:

‘for example’

‘such as’

‘like’

‘including’

etc

This can usually be avoided. Use an alternative:

‘for example’

‘such as’

‘like’

‘including’

Never use etc at the end of a list starting with these words.

ie

This is used to clarify a sentence. It is not always well understood.

Try writing sentences to avoid the need to use it. If that is not possible, use an alternative such as:

‘meaning’

‘that is’

e-learning

Use 'online learning' where possible.

Exclamation marks

Avoid using exclamation marks unless they are used in the title of an event or activity.

‘e’ as a prefix

Use sparingly. There is often little need to denote the channel to the customer.

Where the prefix refers to electronic, it should always be lower case with a hyphen. For example, ‘e-books’.

At the beginning of a sentence, capitalise the first letter of the word that follows the e, rather than the e itself. For example ‘e-Procurement’.

The exception is 'email' which should always be written lower case in text and must be capitalised at the start of a sentence.

email

One word.

Email addresses

Write email addresses in full, in lower case and as active links.

Don’t include any other words as part of the link.

emergency plan

Lower case.

ensure

Do not use unless part of a quote.

Use ‘make sure’ or ‘making sure’ as appropriate.

ethnic minorities

Refer to ethnic minority groups individually, rather than as a single group. Where it’s absolutely necessary to group people from different ethnic minority backgrounds, use ‘ethnic minorities’ or ‘people from ethnic minority backgrounds.’

Do not use the terms BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) and BME (Black and minority ethnic). These terms emphasise certain ethnic minority groups (Asian and Black) and exclude others (Mixed, other and White ethnic minority groups).

See Writing about ethnicity on GOV.UK for more details.

euros, the euro

Lower case.

EventBrite

EventBrite not Eventbright or Eventbrite.

executive director

Lower case in text. Upper case in titles: Kevin Gibbs, Executive Director, Communities.

extra-curricular

Hyphenated.

FAQs (frequently asked questions)

We don’t use FAQs on our website. FAQs can be confusing. It’s important to structure your user needs in a logical way.

If you write content by starting with user needs, you won’t need to use FAQs.

With FAQs there is a real danger of mixing up very different user needs all over the page. If you write content by starting with user needs, you will not need to use FAQs.

FAQs are harder to understand

On the internet, users scan for content, searching from left to right for key information.

Front-loading content is a very important web standard. It helps users find information quickly. It’s impossible to front-load FAQs.

This is quicker to read and understand:

The difference between cats and dogs

Than this:

What is the difference between cats and dogs?

finance and procurement

Lower case.

fine

Use ‘fine’ instead of ‘financial penalty’.

For example:

'You’ll pay a £50 fine.'

For other types of sanction, say what will happen to the user - you’ll get points on your licence, go to court and so on. Only say ‘civil penalty’ if there’s evidence users are searching for the term.

Describe what the user might need to do, rather than what government calls a thing.

fire and rescue service

Lower case.

fly tipping

Not flytipping.

free school meals

Lower case.

Freedom of Information

You can make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, but not a request under the FOI Act.

focused

Not focussed.

further information

Use ‘More information’ not ‘Further information.’

Gender

Make sure text is gender neutral wherever possible, such as ‘them’, ‘their’ or ‘they’.

If you do need to refer to gender, use ‘women’ and ‘men’ rather than ‘males’ and ‘females’. For example, ‘33% of our senior leaders are women’.

GCSE, GCSEs

No full stops between the initials. No apostrophe in the plural.

general election

Lower case, but upper case if referring to a specific election. For example, the 2019 General Election.

Geography and regions

Use lower case for north, south, east and west, except when they’re part of a name or recognised region.

So, the south-west (compass direction), but the South West (administrative region).

Use lower case for the north, the south of England, the south-west, north-east Scotland, south Wales, the west, western Europe, the far east, south-east Asia.

Use upper case for East End, West End (London), East Midlands, West Midlands, Middle East, Central America, South America.

Always write out the full name of the area the first time you use it. You can use a capital for a shortened version of a specific area or region if it’s commonly known by that name, like the Pole for the North Pole.

governing body

Singular noun.

The governing body is meeting today. It will decide who to appoint.

government

Lower case unless it’s a full title. For example:

‘UK government’

‘His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’.

governor

Lower case.

GOV.UK

All upper case.

Headings

Headings and sub headings are used to group content into appropriate sections. This improves readability, scanning and page navigation.

Headings should follow a logical structure. Do not skip heading levels. For example adding a sub heading without a heading.

Sub-headings should be in sentence case.

Do not add links to headings.

Do not use bold to denote a heading, use the appropriate heading styles.

Do not use additional styling such as bold, exclamation marks or an asterisk to draw attention to a heading.

Avoid using questions as sub-headings - can the sentence be re-phrased as a statement?

headteacher

One word. You can use head if the context is clear.

helpdesk

Not “help desk”.

higher education (HE)

Lower case.

homepage

One word, lower case.

human resources

Lower case.

Hyphens

Use hyphens sparingly. 

It's often better to use a full stop and start a new sentence.

Do not use hyphens in page titles.

Hyphenation

Hyphenate:

• ‘re-’ words starting with ‘e’, like re-evaluate
• co-ordinate
• co-operate

Don’t hyphenate:

• reuse
• reinvent
• reorder
• reopen
• email

Do not use a hyphen unless it’s confusing without it. For example, a 'little used-car' is different from a 'little-used car'. You can also refer to The Guardian style guide for advice on hyphenation.

Use ‘to’ for time and date ranges, not hyphens.

ie

See eg, etc and ie.

inset day

Lower case.

internet

Lower case.

in accordance with

Do not use unless legally required.

Use ‘under’ or ‘in line with’ instead.

IP

When used in the technical context (for example ‘internet protocol’), there’s no need to explain the acronym.

Italics

Don’t use italics.

Use ‘single quotation marks’ if referring to a document, scheme or initiative.

Job titles

Specific job titles are upper case. For example:

Chief Executive

Generic job titles are lower case. For example:

director

councillor

key stage

Lower case and numeral. For example:

key stage 4

the King

Upper case K, lower case t.

law

Lower case even when it’s ‘the law’.

Legal content

Legal content can still be written in plain English. It’s important that users understand content and that we present complicated information simply.

Where evidence shows there’s a clear user need for including a legal term (like bona vacantia), always explain it in plain English.

Read more about writing legal content on GOV.UK.

life cycle

Not “lifecycle” or “life-cycle”.

licence or license

Licence is the noun. It is a permit or permission to do something.

'You need to provide a driving licence.'

License is the verb. For example:

'I need to license this business.'

'The Vehicle Licensing Agency gave me my licence.'

Links

Always link to online services first. Only offer offline alternatives afterwards (where possible).

Links must not open in a new window.

Headings and subheadings must not be used as links.

Read more about links on GOV.UK.

Link text

It's important to write links clearly.

Make sure that link text is relevant and meaningful. Try reading the link out of context. Do you still know what you are going to?

Never use terms like “click here”, “more information” or “follow this link” as these are not accessible or useful.

Front-load your link text with the relevant terms and make them active and specific.

Links must be named differently on a page unless they go to the same location.

Use the correct capitalisation for external links. For example GOV.UK website rather than gov.uk website.

Link styling

When adding a link in the body field make sure you do not include any end punctuation within the link.

Links within buttons must be calls to action rather than just a link.

Lists

Lists should be bulleted to make them easier to read. See bullet points and steps.

Very long lists can be written as a paragraph with a lead-in sentence if it looks better: ‘The following countries are in the EU: Spain, France, Italy…’

In an alphanumeric list:

• put entries that start with numbers before entries that start with letters
• order the numbers numerically in the correct order for the whole number

local authority

Lower case. Do not use LA.

Use local council instead of local authority where possible.

local council

Lower case.

log in

Use sign in rather than log in (verb) for calls-to-action where users enter their details to access a service.

Do not use login as a noun - say what the user actually needs to enter (like username, password, National Insurance number). You can use it as a noun if it’s part of a name such as GOV.UK One Login or NHS login.

Measurements

Use numerals and spell out measurements at first mention.

Do not use a space between the numeral and abbreviated measurement:

3,500kg not 3,500 kg

Abbreviating kilograms to kg is fine - you do not need to spell it out.

If the measurement is more than one word, like kilometres per hour, then spell it out the first time it’s used with the abbreviation. From then on, abbreviate. If it’s only mentioned once, do not abbreviate.

Use Celsius for temperature:

37°C

military

Lower case.

Millions

Always use million in money (and billion). For example, £138 million.

Use millions in phrases. For example, ‘millions of people’.

Don’t use ‘£0.xx million’ for amounts less than £1 million.

Do not abbreviate million to m.

Money

Use the £ symbol:

£75

Don’t use decimals unless pence are included. For example:

£75.50 but not £75.00

Do not use ‘£0.xx million’ for amounts less than £1 million.

Write out ‘pence’ in full. For example:

Calls will cost 30 pence per minute.

Currencies are lower case.

Months

See dates.

More information

Use ‘More information’ not ‘Further information.’

MP

Do not use Member of Parliament, just MP.

N/A

Do not use N/A in empty cells in tables. Use ‘no data’ or ‘not applicable’ instead.

national curriculum

Lower case.

National Insurance number

Upper case. Not NINO.

newly qualified teacher

Use ‘early career teacher (ECT)’ instead.

Numbers

Use ‘one’ unless you’re talking about a step, a point in a list or another situation where using the numeral makes more sense. For example:

‘in point 1 of the design instructions'

Write all other numbers in numerals (including 2 to 9) except where it’s part of a common expression like ‘one or two of them’ where numerals would look strange. Use common sense.

If a number starts a sentence, write it out in full except where it starts a title or subheading.

'Ten free passes available to customers'

Consider using numerals rather than writing it out in full for lists of statistics:

An estimated 130,000 children in the UK live in households where there is a significant risk of harm or death as a result of domestic abuse.

64% of high and medium risk victims have, on average, 2 children.

For numerals over 999 - insert a comma for clarity: ‘It was over 9,000’

Spell out common fractions like one-half. This should be hyphenated.

Use a % sign for percentages: 50%

Use a 0 where there’s no digit before the decimal point (for example, 0.5 not .5).

Use ‘zero degrees’ not ‘0 degrees’ or 0°.

Use ‘500 to 900’ and not ‘500-900’ (except in tables).

Use MB for anything over 1MB:

4MB not 4096KB

Use KB for anything under 1MB:

569KB not 0.55MB

Keep it as accurate as possible and up to 2 decimal places:

4.03MB

Use ‘to’ in address ranges:

49 to 53 Cherry Street

Ordinal numbers

Spell out first to ninth. After that use 10th, 11th and so on.

In tables, use numerals throughout.

nursery school

Lower case.

online

One word.

or

Do not use slashes instead of “or”. For example, not “do this 3/4 times” but "do this 3 or 4 times"

Organisations

Use the singular verb form when referring to organisations by name. Use ‘they’ when replacing an organisation name with a pronoun.

For example: ‘HMPO is the sole issuer of UK passports. They will send your new passport within 3 weeks’

The definite article can be used when referring to the organisation by its full name, but should not be used with the organisation’s acronym: ‘You should contact the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency if…’ but ‘You should contact DVSA if…’

You should only use ‘we’ if it’s clear which organisation you’re referring to.

Pages and screens

You should usually be able to use statements like ‘when you continue’ or refer to an interaction as a ‘step’ if you need to help users understand where they are in their journey.

If you ever need to describe what the user is actually interacting with, use ‘page’. This applies to both web and app interfaces.

For example:

• ‘Keep this page open’
• ‘You’ll need to come back to this page later’
• ‘Go back to the page you had open on your computer or tablet’
• ‘Report a problem with this page’

Do not use ‘screen’ unless you’re referring to part of a device, for example ‘the oval on your screen’.

User research by GDS noticed users use and understand the word ‘page’, even in the context of a mobile app. For example, they talk about the ‘home page’ of the app, and not the ‘home screen’.

You can use ‘window’ or ‘tab’ if you ever need to describe how a page will be shown in a user’s web browser. For example, if you need a link to open in a new tab, include the words ‘opens in new tab’ as part of the link text.

parish council

Lower case even when naming a specific council. For example:

Crowthorne parish council

Parliament

Upper case.

Part-time

Hyphenate.

payroll

Lower case.

PDF

Upper case. No need to explain the acronym.

Per cent

Use per cent not percent. Percentage is one word.

Always use % with a number.

Personal pronouns

Do not use he or she. Use ‘they’.

Plain English

Plain English is mandatory for all content on our websites.

Remember the following when writing content:

• keep it simple and use words that your audience will understand
• an average sentence length of 15 to 20 words is recommended (maximum 25 words)
• avoid large sections of text - break up into shorter paragraphs and remove any unnecessary words
• web pages must have as low a reading age as possible - aim for 9

Before publishing content, you should check your page through the Hemingway App to give you an idea of any issues with it. Correct them where possible.

Words to avoid

Some of the main words we monitor are:

• additional (extra)
• ensure (use 'make sure')
• commence (use 'start')
• in accordance with (use 'in line with' or 'under')
• initiate (use 'start' or 'begin')
• advise (use 'tell')
• purchase (use 'buy')
• whilst
• complete (a form) (use 'fill in')
• further information (use 'more information')
• comply with (keep to)
• per annum (a year)
• regarding (about)

Planet Earth

Upper case.

Please

There’s usually no need to say ‘please’ or ‘please note’.

police

Lower case, even when referring to ‘the police’.

police service

Lower case.

practice

Practice is the noun. For example:

'You need to visit the doctors' practice.'

Practise is the verb. For example:

'I practise what I preach and write in plain English.'

pre-school

Hyphenated.

Pro-rata or pro rata

Use ‘proportionally’ or ‘a portion of’ instead, where possible.

Hyphenate when used as an adjective. For example:

'They are paid their salaries on a pro-rata basis.'

public health

Lower case.

public sector

Lower case.

pupil premium

Lower case.

pupil referral unit

Lower case.

qualified teacher status

Lower case.

Quotes and speech marks

In long passages of speech, open quotes for every new paragraph, but close quotes only at the end of the final paragraph.

Single quotes

Use single quotes:

• in headlines
• for unusual terms
• when referring to words
• when referring to publications
• when referring to notifications such as emails or alerts

Download the publication ‘Understanding Capital Gains Tax’ (PDF, 360KB)

Double quotes

Use double quotes in body text for direct quotations.

Block quotes

Use the quote paragraph for quotes longer than a few sentences.

References

References should be easy to understand by anyone, not just specialists.

They should follow the style guide. When writing a reference:

• do not use italics
• use single quote marks around titles
• write out abbreviations in full: page not p, Nutrition Journal not Nutr J.
• use plain English, for example use ‘and others’ not ‘et al’
• do not use full stops after initials or at the end of the reference

If the reference is available online, make the title a link and include the date you accessed the online version:

Corallo AN and others. ‘A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD countries’ Health Policy 2014: volume 114, pages 5-14 (viewed on 18 November 2014)

regulations

Upper case in the full title: Licensing of Animal Dealers (Scotland) Regulations 2009. (No comma before the date.) 

Lower case when referring to them: the licensing of animal dealers regulations.

resilience

Lower case.

risk assessment

Lower case.

sat nav

Two words, lower case.

School Admissions Code

Upper case. After the first mention you can refer to it in lower case: the admissions code or the code.

school improvement plan

Lower case.

seasons

spring, summer, autumn, winter are lower case.

self-employment

Hyphenate this noun.

Semicolons

Do not use semicolons.

Long sentences using semicolons should be broken up into separate sentences instead.

Sentence length

Do not use long sentences. Check sentences with more than 25 words to see if you can split them to make them clearer.

There is more advice on GOV.UK about writing short sentences.

sign in or log in

Use sign in rather than log in (verb) for calls-to-action where users enter their details to access a service.

Do not use login as a noun. Say what the user actually needs to enter (like username, password, National Insurance number).

sixth-form college

Hyphenated. Lower case.

Slashes

Do not use slashes to separate items or in 'and/or'.

In most cases, you mean either 'or' or 'and'.

Decide which you mean. Don't make the reader decide.

If you absolutely mean both, write out 'either X, or Y, or both.'

south, the south of England

Lower case.

south-east, south-west

Lower case, hyphenated.

Spaces

Use only one space after a full stop, not 2.

special educational needs or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Lower case, but use upper case for the acronym.

Speech marks

See quotes and speech marks.

statement of SEND

Lower case statement.

strategy

Lower case. Do not capitalise a named strategy. For example:

IT and digital strategy

Summaries

Summaries should:

• be 140 characters or less
• end with a full stop
• not repeat the title or body text
• be clear and specific

Tables

Tables should only be used to present data.

Do not use tables for design purposes, for example to present a list because you think it looks better that way.

Consider the alternatives

A table may not always be the best way to present your content.

A simple table can often be replaced with a:

• series of bulleted lists with headings and subheadings
• single bulleted list, using commas to separate the information

Captions 

Add a caption to all tables. Screen readers will pick up this caption and helps users decide if they want to read it. If the user uses “Tables Mode”, captions are the primary mechanism to identify tables.

Standards

Keep text in cells concise and clear and follow the style guide.

You can depart from the standard styles to:

• truncate the names of months to save room, for example Jan, Feb
• use a dash to show a span between numbers, for example 500 - 900
• use numerals throughout (do not use ordinals, for example first, second, 10th)

If you do not need to use exact numbers, consider rounding large numbers with decimal places, for example £148,646,000 = £148.6 million.

Usability

Help the user

Carry out any calculations, for example include totals or differences between amounts at the end of columns or rows.

Make your table easier to read

Try to use more rows than columns. A tall, narrow table is easier to read than a short, wide one.

Size

The size of a table affects how easy it is for people to read it and understand it.

The minimum size for a table should be

2 columns and 3 rows (including a column header)

If your table is this small it may be better as normal text.

Four column tables can be comfortably displayed on a smartphone screen, depending on how much text you have in the table cells. If it looks like too much, split your data between tables.

If you’re dealing with a large amount of data that cannot be split, it may be better as a downloadable spreadsheet.

team

Lower case: Youth Offending team, Behavioural Insights team

Technical terms

Where you need to use technical terms, you can. They’re not jargon. You just need to explain what they mean the first time you use them.

Read more about writing for specialists on GOV.UK.

Telephone numbers

Use ‘Phone: 011 111 111’ or ‘Mobile:’ not ‘Mob:’.

Use spaces between city and local exchange.

When a number is memorable, group the numbers into easily remembered units. For example:

0800 80 70 60

Temperature

Use Celsius.

37°C

Times

• use ‘to’ in time ranges, not hyphens, en rules or em dashes: 10am to 11am (not 10-11am)
• 5:30pm (not 1730hrs)
• midnight (not 00:00)
• midday (not 12 noon, noon or 12pm)
• hours and minutes should be written in full: 6 hours 30 minutes

Other points about times

Only use decimals where minutes are needed.

Midnight is the first minute of the day, not the last. Consider using “11:59pm” to avoid confusion about a single, specific time.

For example, “You must register by 11:59pm on Tuesday 14 June.” can only be read one way, but “You must register by midnight on Tuesday 14 June” can be read in two ways (the end of Monday 13, or end of Tuesday 14).

Titles

Page titles should:

• be 8 words or less
• be unique, clear and descriptive
• be front-loaded and optimised for search
• use a colon to break up longer titles
• not contain dashes or slashes
• not have a full stop at the end
• not be questions
• not use acronyms unless they are well-known, like EU

Using ‘ing’ in titles

Use the active verb (‘Submit’) if you use the page to do the thing.

Good form page example: Submit your business expenses

Use the present participle (‘Submitting’) if the page is about doing the thing, but you do it elsewhere.

Good title example: Submitting your business expenses

Tone of voice

Use the active rather than the passive voice. For example:

• active voice – we will make a decision
• passive voice – a decision will be made

Use an appropriate style of writing to match the content and audience. In some cases an informal, friendly, personal style may be more effective than formal language.

Don’t overuse the word “please”, get the right balance between being formal and friendly.

You should use ‘council’ rather than the full ‘Bracknell Forest Council’.

town council

Lower case, even when part of a name. For example:

Bracknell town council

Trade marks

Avoid using trademarked names where possible. For example, tablet not iPad.

Trade mark is 2 words but trademarked is one word.

Trading Standards

Upper case.

Twitter account

Upper case. Twitter is a trademarked name.

UK government

Never HM government.

unique pupil number

Lower case.

Universal Credit

Upper case.

URL

Upper case. No need to explain the acronym.

user ID

Lower case ‘user’.

username

Not “user name”.

utilise

Do not use. Use ‘use’.

via

Do not use. Use ‘by’ or ‘on’ as appropriate.

voluntary-aided schools, voluntary-controlled schools

Hyphenated. Lower case.

webchat

One word. Not ‘web chat’.

webpage

One word.

web server

Not “webserver”.

website

One word.

the west, western Europe

Lower case.

whilst

Do not use. Use ‘while’.

WhatsApp

Use ‘WhatsApp’ with an upper case A. Do not use ‘Whatsapp’.

wifi

Lower case, no hyphen.

Word document

Upper case, because it’s a brand name.

Words to avoid

Plain English is mandatory for all our content so avoid using these words:

• agenda (unless it’s for a meeting), use ‘plan’ instead
• advance, use ‘improve’ or something more specific
• collaborate, use ‘work with’
• combat (unless military), use ‘solve’, ‘fix’ or something more specific
• commit or pledge, use ‘plan to x’, or ‘we’re going to x’ where ‘x’ is a specific verb
• counter, use ‘prevent’ or try to rephrase a solution to a problem
• deliver, use ‘make’, ‘create’, ‘provide’ or a more specific term (pizzas, post and services are delivered - not abstract concepts like improvements)
• deploy (unless it’s military or software), use ‘use’ or if putting something somewhere use ‘build’, ‘create’ or ‘put into place’
• dialogue, use ‘spoke to’ or ‘discussion’
• disincentivise, use ‘discourage’ or ‘deter’
• empower, use ‘allow’ or ‘give permission’
• facilitate, say something specific about how you’re helping - for example, use ‘run’ if talking about a workshop
• focus, use ‘work on’ or ‘concentrate on’
• foster (unless it’s children), use ‘encourage’ or ‘help’
• impact (unless talking about a collision), use ‘have an effect on’ or ‘influence’
• incentivise, use ‘encourage’ or ‘motivate’
• initiate, use ‘start’ or ‘begin’
• key (unless it unlocks something), usually not needed but can use ‘important’ or ‘significant’
• land (unless you’re talking about aircraft), depending on context, use ‘get’ or ‘achieve’
• leverage (unless in the financial sense), use ‘influence’ or ‘use’
• liaise, use ‘work with’ or ‘work alongside’
• overarching, usually superfluous but can use ‘encompassing’
• progress, use ‘work on’ or ‘develop’ or ‘make progress’
• promote (unless talking about an ad campaign or career advancement), use ‘recommend’ or ‘support’
• robust (unless talking about a sturdy object), depending on context, use ‘well thought out’ or ‘comprehensive’
• slim down (unless talking about one’s waistline), use ‘make smaller’ or ‘reduce the size’
• streamline, use ‘simplify’ or ‘remove unnecessary administration’
• strengthening (unless it’s strengthening bridges or other structures), depending on context, use ‘increasing funding’ or ‘concentrating on’ or ‘adding more staff’
• tackle (unless talking about fishing tackle or a physical tackle, like in rugby), use ‘stop’, ‘solve’ or ‘deal with’
• transform, describe what you’re doing to change the thing
• utilise, use ‘use’

Avoid using metaphors - they do not say what you actually mean and lead to slower comprehension of your content. For example:

• drive, use ‘create’, ‘cause’ or ‘encourage’ instead (you can only drive vehicles, not schemes or people)
• drive out (unless it’s cattle), use ‘stop’, ‘avoid’ or ‘prevent’
• going/moving forward, use ‘from now on’ or ‘in the future’ (it’s unlikely we are giving travel directions)
• in order to, usually not needed - do not use it
• one-stop shop, use ‘website’ (we are government, not a retail outlet)
• ring fencing, use ‘separate’ or when talking about budgets use ‘money that will be spent on x’

With all of these words you can generally replace them by breaking the term into what you’re actually doing. Be open and specific.

Read more about plain English and words to avoid on GOV.UK.

year 1, year 2

Lower case.

You and us

Referring to the council

Unless you need to do so formally, refer to the council as ‘we’ and ‘us’.

Referring to users

Refer to readers as ‘you’ where appropriate so they feel we’re talking to them personally.

Your and my in headings

If you need to refer to the user in a heading, use 'your' rather than 'my'. This will help avoid confusion when referring to 'My Account' (Self), or 'My Benefits' (benefit portal).