Dates
Always follow this format for dates
✔ Thursday 7 November 2017
✔ 7 November 2017
Always include the year
❌ Thursday 7 November
When space is an issue, you can use the shortened version of months
✔ 7 Nov 2017
Use 'to' in date ranges
✔ 2011 to 2012
❌ 2011-2012
Use ‘/’ for financial years and school years
✔ We spent a lot of money in 2017/18.
When referring to today, include the date
✔ The minister announced today (14 June 2012) that…
Do not use an apostrophe for decades
✔ He grew up in the 60s.
❌ He grew up in the 60’s.
Measurements
Use metric measurements but add imperial in brackets where this is helpful
✔ The distance was 16km (10 miles).
Use the abbreviated form for common units of measure
✔ The hospital is 5km further out.
Spell out less common units of measure and give the abbreviation in brackets at first mention
✔ The car sped by at 120 kilometres per hour (kph). The speed limit was 60kph.
Do not use a space between the numeral and the abbreviated unit of measure
✔ It weighs 3500kg.
❌ It weighs 3500 kg.
Always spell out miles, inches, hectares and acres
Use sq ft, sq metres, sq miles, sq kilometres for areas
Money
Use the £ symbol
✔ £75
Only use decimals if pence are included
✔ £75.50
✔ £75
❌ £75.00
Write out penny and pence in full
✔ Calls used to cost 1 penny but are now 4 pence.
Do not use £0.xx million for amounts less than £1 million
✔ £400,000
❌ £0.4 million
✔ £1.4 million
Do not abbreviate ‘million’
✔ They spent £4 million.
❌ They spent £4m.
Do not abbreviate ‘billion’
✔ This cost £1.4 billion.
Numbers
Most of the time, use ‘one’ rather than ‘1’.
✔ We built one new school this year.
In some cases, using ‘1’ makes more sense.
✔ In step 1 of the instructions...
Spell out a number when it begins a sentence
✔ Eight people entered the building.
Write all other numbers as numerals
✔ There were 8 people in the building.
The same rules apply to ordinals
✔ First, he answered the 2nd question.
Keep expressions that normally use spelled-out numbers unchanged
✔ This started a third-party investigation.
✔ They bought a second-hand car.
For numerals over 999 use commas
✔ 3,000,000
Do not use ‘k’ to abbreviate thousands
✔ £400,000
❌ £4k
Use a 0 when there’s no digit before a decimal point
✔ 0.25
❌ .25
Write out and hyphenate fractions
✔ one-half
Use % for percentages
✔ Turnover increased by 60%.
❌ Turnover increased by 60 percent.
Use 'to' in ranges
✔ There will be 500 to 900 spectators.
Times
Use am or pm, without a space
✔ We will open at 9am.
Use a full stop to separate hours and minutes
✔ We will close at 5.30pm.
Use ‘to’ in time ranges
✔ The surgery is open Monday to Friday, 2pm to 6pm.
Use noon and midnight, not 12am or 12pm
✔ We will take a break at noon.