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Standard content types

Withdraw or unpublish standard content types

If you have ‘managing editor’ permissions on Whitehall, you can:

  • withdraw content if it’s no longer current – the page will remain on GOV.UK, but it’ll have a banner saying that the content has been withdrawn
  • unpublish content – the page will be taken off GOV.UK completely

Before you take these next steps, read the guidance on when to retire content to understand when you should withdraw or unpublish content.

If you need managing editor permissions, talk to one of your organisation admins.

Withdraw content

How you withdraw content depends on whether it has attachments.

Either way, users will not get an email notification when the page is withdrawn.

If your content has attachments

  1. Create versions of any non-HTML attachments with a statement or watermark explaining the content has been withdrawn.
  2. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  3. Search for the content you want to withdraw, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page.
  4. Select the ‘Create new edition’ button.
  5. In the ‘Attachments’ tab, edit any non-HTML attachments so they have the versions with a statement or watermark. Add ‘[Withdrawn]’ to the titles.
  6. Rename any HTML attachments to add ‘[Withdrawn]’ to the titles.
  7. Republish the content.
  8. Go back to the content’s edition summary page.
  9. Select the ‘Withdraw or unpublish’ button.
  10. Select ‘Withdraw: no longer current government policy/activity’.
  11. Write a reason in the ‘Public explanation’ field explaining why you’re withdrawing. You can include formatting and provide users with a link to a new page.

If your content does not have attachments:

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  2. Search for the content you want to withdraw, and select the ‘View’ link next to it.
  3. Select the ‘Withdraw or unpublish’ button.
  4. Select ‘Withdraw: no longer current government policy/activity’.
  5. Write a reason in the ‘Public explanation’ field explaining why you’re withdrawing. You can include formatting and provide users with a link to a new page.

Get help writing a public explanation

Some template public explanations are:

  • ‘This page has been withdrawn because it’s out of date. You can read about [X or Y] at [name and link to new content].’
  • ‘This page has been replaced by a newer version. Go to [name and link to new content].’
  • ‘You cannot apply for this [scheme, programme, fund] anymore. It has been replaced by [name and link to scheme].’
  • ‘This news article has been withdrawn because it’s over [x] years old.’

Reverse withdrawing content

What you need to do depends on whether you want to:

  • temporarily unwithdraw content so you can update it
  • permanently unwithdraw content with attachments
  • permanently unwithdraw content without attachments

Temporarily unwithdraw content

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  2. Search for the content you want to ‘unwithdraw’, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page.
  3. Select the ‘Unwithdraw’ button.
  4. Make the changes and publish them.
  5. Withdraw the content again. You can either reuse a previous withdrawal date and public explanation, or use a new public explanation.

You should only reuse a previous withdrawal date and public explanation if you have:

  • updated file attachments to mark them ‘withdrawn’
  • made a minor edit, like fixing a broken link
  • fixed an error or mistake in the content which existed when it was originally withdrawn

Permanently unwithdraw content with attachments

  1. Create versions of any non-HTML attachments with no withdrawal statement or watermark.
  2. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  3. Search for the content you want to ‘unwithdraw’, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page.
  4. Select the ‘Create new edition’ button.
  5. In the ‘Attachments’ tab, delete all the non-HTML attachments.
  6. Re-upload the non-HTML attachments with the versions without statements or watermarks.
  7. Remove ‘[Withdrawn]’ from the name of any HTML attachments.
  8. Republish the publication.
  9. Go back to the content and select the ‘Unwithdraw’ button.

Permanently unwithdraw content without attachments

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  2. Search for the content you want to ‘unwithdraw’, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page.
  3. Select the ‘Unwithdraw’ button.

Unpublish content

To unpublish a publication:

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  2. Search for the content you want to unpublish, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page.
  3. Select the ‘Withdraw or unpublish’ button.

You can then either select:

  • ‘Unpublish: published in error’ – you’ll need to add a public explanation, and you can add formatting to that explanation if you want to include a link
  • ‘Unpublish: consolidated into another GOV.UK page’

Select ‘Unpublish: consolidated into another GOV.UK page’ if you’re unpublishing content that:

  • contains sensitive personal data
  • breaches copyright laws
  • includes material that users find obscene or defamatory
  • includes details of convictions

Whatever option you pick, add an ‘Alternative URL’ where users will be redirected. You can use the GOV.UK homepage if there’s no obvious place to redirect users.

You can only redirect to URLs on:

  • GOV.UK
  • external government subdomains, like judiciary.uk, nhs.uk and ukri.org

Any attachments will automatically redirect to the same place.

If you’re unpublishing a consultation, detailed guide or publication, subscribed users will get an email notification about the unpublishing and the location of the redirect. Read more about how email notifications work.

After you’ve unpublished content

Keep a secure record of the URLs of the content you unpublish, particularly if you’re unpublishing it because the content:

  • contains sensitive personal data
  • breaches copyright laws
  • includes material that users find defamatory
  • includes details of convictions

The National Archives’ UK Government Web Archive might contain a snapshot of the content you unpublish.

You should ask them to remove the page from public view too, unless you’re unpublishing content because it’s included in another page, was published by mistake, or is out of proposition.

Republish unpublished content

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher and select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  2. Search for the content you want to unpublish, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page.
  3. Select the ‘Create new edition’ button.
  4. Publish the draft.

Once the content is live again, it will remove any redirects that were set up when the content was unpublished.