Publish, update or retire content
This guidance will help you:
- create content on GOV.UK
- update existing GOV.UK content
- withdraw or unpublish outdated GOV.UK content
Make sure you have the right account
You’ll need a Signon account to create, update or retire GOV.UK content.
We’ll explain in the guidance whether your Signon account needs:
- access to publishing applications, like Whitehall Publisher
- certain permissions within publishing applications
If you need a Signon account or you need to update an existing one, raise an account request.
If you want to create, update or retire ‘mainstream’ content
This guidance does not cover mainstream content. Mainstream content is:
- for the general public or small businesses
- managed by the content team at the Government Digital Service (GDS)
You can read more about which content is considered mainstream.
Published mainstream content will:
- not have ‘government’, ‘guidance’ or ‘find-licences’ in its URL
- not be part of a specialist finder, like any of the content in ‘Air Accidents Investigation Branch reports’
If you want to add, update or retire mainstream content, raise a ticket with the content team at GDS.
The only exception is if you want to update the results of a postcode lookup tool. You can do this yourself. See the guidance on updating the results of a:
- ‘Find my nearest’ page – these show users the local organisations that offer a service, like ‘Find a driving test centre’
- local transaction page – these direct users to their local council’s website to access a service or guidance, like ‘Pay your Council Tax’
If you want to create, update or retire non-GOV.UK content
Ask your organisation’s content team if you want to update:
- any external sites managed by your organisation
- any services managed by your organisation (they will have ‘service’ in the URL)
There’s guidance on creating and updating blog sites and campaign sites.
There’s also guidance on requesting an exemption from being on GOV.UK if you want to create another type of site.