Spell out acronyms the first time you use them, and put the acronym in brackets after
✔ You may suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) .
Once you have introduced an acronym by spelling it out, all future use should be acronym only
You can use well-known acronyms without spelling them out the first time
✔ They deliver throughout the UK.
Make your sentences active
✔ We will follow up all complaints.
❌ All complaints will be followed up.
Bullet points start with a lower case, unless they begin with a name
✔ • we will move the office to Sutton
✔ • Sutton is beautiful
Bullet points never end with a full stop or semicolon
Bullet points should not use more than one sentence per bullet
Never use upper case for emphasis or to stress importance
❌ Most important to us are the Residents.
Never use block capitals
❌ Sutton is GREAT.
✔ We welcomed our new Chief Executive.
✔ She has joined the Resources Directorate.
✔ Sutton Council has many directorates.
✔ The Council is pleased to announce…
Instead of ‘eg’, use ‘such as’, ‘for example’, ‘like’ or ‘including’
✔ They sell a lot of fruit, such as apples and oranges.
❌ They sell a lot of fruit, e.g. apples and oranges.
‘etc’ can usually be avoided by rewriting the sentence or by using ‘such as’, ‘for example’ or ‘including’ instead
‘ie’ can usually be avoided by rewriting the sentence or by using ‘meaning’ or ‘that is’ instead.
Avoid ‘!’ in all cases
❌ This sentence is very important!
Avoid ‘&’ in all cases
✔ This issue is pressing and important.
❌ This issue is pressing & important.
Use ‘%’ for percentages
❌ Turnover rose by 40 percent.
Use @ for email addresses only
❌ The meeting will take place @ Grosvenor House.
Use ‘ (single quote) when referring to words or publications
✔ ‘Schadenfreude’ is a strange concept.
✔ Download the publication ‘Council tax rates’
Use “ (double quote) for direct quotations
✔ He said repeatedly “I love Sutton”.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
❌ They sell a lot of fruit, e.g. apples and oranges.
‘etc’ can usually be avoided by rewriting the sentence or by using ‘such as’, ‘for example’ or ‘including’ instead
‘ie’ can usually be avoided by rewriting the sentence or by using ‘meaning’ or ‘that is’ instead.
For more information take a look at the GDS style guide
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