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Ask for downtime messages

If your service is going to be down for 2 hours or more, you should add a downtime message to GOV.UK content that links to it.

You should also add a downtime message to the service itself if possible.

Who to ask for a downtime message

Who you ask depends on where you want to add the downtime message.

To add a downtime message to the service itself or to ‘Whitehall’ content, ask your organisation’s GOV.UK publishing team to do it for you.

To add a downtime message to ‘mainstream’ content, ask the Government Digital Service (GDS).

Content is mainstream if it:

How GDS adds downtime messages

Most downtime messages will take this format:

‘This service will be unavailable from [date and time] to [date and time].’

If the service is down and you do not know when it will be up again, GDS can use one of the following:

  • ‘This service is currently unavailable.’
  • ‘This service will be temporarily unavailable from [date and time].’

GDS generally does not add downtime messages to mainstream content if:

  • the downtime is very short – under 2 hours (unless you send data showing it would affect a high number of users)
  • it’s requested too late
  • there may be intermittent problems but no expected downtime
  • the service is only partially down – the service should present the downtime message in the appropriate place
  • the request is sent out of hours – GDS will make changes during working hours for scheduled and unscheduled downtime

Asking GDS for downtime messages

Ask for the downtime messages 5 working days in advance of the downtime. Give GDS as much time as possible if more than one service is affected. They’ll always try to give users at least a day’s notice of downtime.

Use the content requests form to make the request.

You’ll need a Signon account with ‘content requesters’ permissions to access the form.

If you do not have access to the content requests form
Speak to your GOV.UK lead or one of your organisation admins if you want access to the form. Your GOV.UK lead and organisation admins will typically be in your organisation’s GOV.UK content, digital content, publishing or digital communications team.

In your request, include:

  • the URLs of the pages which need the message and the position of the link to your service on the page
  • the date and time the service will be down
  • the date and time the service is going back up (if you know)
  • whether or not the downtime is confirmed