Get help and advice
Support from the Government Digital Service (GDS)
You can ask for content advice from the GDS content team. This could be about, for example:
- which content type to use
- following the GOV.UK style guides and writing guidelines
- structuring your content
- checking if content fits the GOV.UK proposition
- designing accessible content
It may be a quick question about content you’re working on or a request for a formal response you can share with colleagues in your organisation. To help GDS prioritise the work, you need to:
- clearly explain what you need
- give a deadline
You’ll need a Signon account with ‘content requesters’ permissions to access the request form. Speak to your GOV.UK lead or managing editor if you want access to the form.
Emergency support for publishing requests
If you have an emergency relating to publishing to GOV.UK use the GOV.UK emergency contact details. You’ll need a Signon account to access those details.
You should only use these emergency contact details when:
- you need to publish information at a certain time (for example, in line with an announcement), and the automated systems have failed
- sensitive pages have been published in error and need to be unpublished
- there’s a sudden major change to government organisation or structure, with immediate impact across GOV.UK
Do not use them to make regular requests like:
- short URLs
- non-urgent changes to content
- general issues with publishing functionality
Support from across government
As well as contacting GDS, you can get help from content colleagues across government.
Basecamp has a government content community group which includes content designers in other departments and agencies. You can use this to ask for advice and tips on publishing. To join, ask someone who’s already a member to invite you.
UK government digital Slack - also known as ‘cross-government Slack’ - is another cross-government communications platform. You can ask questions of other content designers in the ‘#content’ channel, and use other channels for other communities. To join, you need to sign up for a new account.