Content types on the ONS website Statistical articles

Overview

Statistical articles are the main content type on the ONS website for publishing commentary on our official statistics.

Statistical articles provide users with the latest figures and help them to:  

• see what is new and what has changed
• get more detailed commentary or analysis
• understand how they can use the statistics, with links to more detailed information 

Use for: 

• official statistics
• a short summary of headline findings or trends, presented alongside the data
• more detailed commentary or analysis, presented alongside the data

Do not use for: 

• detailed methodology or quality information; this should be included in your quality and methods guide
• interactive tools or calculators, sometimes known as evergreen content
• research that is not yet official statistics
• corporate content, such as progress updates or announcements about upcoming or recent work 

Example

View an example of a statistical article (opens in a new tab) 

Writing and formatting requirements

All content should follow the ONS content style guide and writing for users guidance.  

There are some additional considerations to think about when writing a statistical article. 

Use a consistent structure

Most people visit the website to complete specific tasks. They look for information related to their task and, like all online users, scan the content instead of reading it top to bottom.  

When people read a statistical article, they expect to see context and commentary, and to find their information quickly and without much work. 

To support this behaviour, treat your article as a collection of shorter information sections with clear headings, rather than one long page. This will help people identify where they are. 

The following structure reflects the user needs and priorities we have identified through research: 

• Statistical title, optional narrative title, and summary
• Headline facts and figures (optional)
• Overview
• How to use these statistics (optional)
• Detailed analysis (optional sections) to provide more context on sub-topics
• Definitions
• Dataset links
• Data from other statistics producers (optional)
• Quality, methods and data sources
• Related links 

You will find more detail on each of these sections further into this guide.  

Focus on the top user needs

There is no maximum length for a page on the ONS website. However, according to user experience experts Neilsen and Norman Group, people typically only read 20% to 28% of a web page. This means most people will only read the first section. The quicker we tell the story, the better. 

Think about the top three to five user needs for your topic when writing your article. This ensures you only include useful and relevant information. 

The top user needs that every article must cover are: 

• I need to understand the most important changes in the data (since the last release)
• I need to see how the data have changed over time
• I need to see if there’s a change in the quality of the data, which affects how I use it
• I need to understand the data in detail and get context where appropriate
• I need to download the data 
• I need to know how the data were created 
• I need to know how to cite this content and contact the team 

To meet the needs of your users, section headings may be similar between editions but avoid copying and pasting entire sections. This leads to repetition and longer content over time. 

Use charts and visuals to tell the story

Use visuals to help communicate the main findings and most important trends.

Lead with the chart and use written content to add context to your visuals and explain why the numbers have changed. Do not just repeat what the chart shows or say what has increased or decreased. 

Read more about best practice for charts in the data visualisation section of the service manual. 

Title and summary

Statistical title

All statistical articles need a statistical title. This describes the topic, geography and time period. Search engines use this statistical title, and it shows on the release calendar page ahead of publication. 

Read more about general best practice in our titles and headings guidance. 

Narrative title

A narrative title displays at the top of an article and describes the main findings. Use it in addition to the statistical title for articles aimed at inquiring citizens or information foragers. 

Use narratives titles where the article: 

• needs clear context or interpretation
• is routinely covered by the media or has significant public interest
• has a clear single narrative line or finding 

The narrative title must include the topic and time period. It must not exceed 80 characters and should ideally span no more than two lines. Include the geography and any other essential information in the summary. 

Do not use a narrative title if there is no clear story to present, or where significant quality issues may lead to misinterpretation. In these cases, use only the statistical title. 

Summary

The page summary should add to the title and include any essential information that will help someone to understand what the article is about. 

Read more about best practice in our summaries guidance. 

Headline facts and figures (optional)

Research shows that many users want to get the latest and most important figures as quickly as possible when coming to the ONS website.  

To support this, you can include two or three headline facts and figures boxes at the top of the statistical article page. People should be able to understand these figures without reading more detailed commentary.  

You must write these boxes as part of your article draft. 

Example headline facts and figures for retail sales:

Each box must include: 

• a short descriptive heading of no more than 45 characters
• a subheading with the geography covered (to be displayed on the topic page)
• the main figure; this can be a number, percentage or percentage change
• the time period covered and any essential context 

This component is optional and is not suitable for all statistical articles. For example, you may wish to exclude it if more detailed context or quality information is needed alongside the figure to ensure its correct use. 

Headline facts and figures on the related topic page

We create headline facts and figures as part of the statistical article but can also display them on the related topic page.  

You can select one or more of the boxes from a statistical article to display on the topic page.

Overview section

All statistical articles must start with an “Overview” section that focuses on the top one to three user needs for the topic. This section should: 

• summarise the main story or trend
• provide clear context on why the numbers are changing
• use short paragraphs, subheadings and bulleted lists
• present any charts or visuals needed to support the prioritised user needs
• highlight one essential quality caveat, where applicable, using a warning panel 

This section is intended for both expert and general users and should follow our plain language guidance. 

Aim for fewer than 300 words for this section and a readability score of grade 8 or 9 to increase user engagement.  

Warning (optional)

This highlights a quality caveat about the data or statistics at the end of the Overview section. Only include this if the information is essential for all users to correctly use the statistics. 

For information about how to write this warning and when to use any further warnings in analysis sections, read our warnings guidance. 

How to use these statistics (optional)

This optional section helps information foragers, such as journalists, and inquiring citizens to quickly find and understand any quality caveats that affect how they can and cannot use the statistics. It is to prevent misuse and misinformation of our statistics. 

This section: 

• appears before any more detailed analysis
• uses a clear format of two bulleted lists, with icons to highlight the "cans" and "cannots"
• complements warnings and helps to limit their number and length
• signposts users to the Quality, methods and data sources section 

Do: 

• give users explicit instruction or meaningful advice on what they can or cannot do because of the quality caveat
• start each bullet with an active verb, such as “examine” or “compare”
• highlight caveats or limitations such as uncertainty around estimates shown by confidence intervals or changes to collection methods potentially causing short-term trends 

Do not: 

• say “treat with caution” as this can be vague
• include detailed quality and methods information in this section; include that in the supporting quality and methods guide 

If any instructions are about comparability between data sources, this section can include an information panel before the bullets listing the data sources. 

Detailed analysis

Include additional analysis sections if users need more detailed context for specific sub-topics. Users can find more detailed breakdowns of the data in the datasets. 

Do use detailed analysis for: 

• sub-topics that are of interest for this edition
• highlighting important revisions to previously published statistics
• comparisons with other sources and time periods, where there is an interesting story to tell 

Do not use detailed analysis for: 

• highlighting every sub-topic or change in the data; more detailed breakdowns are available in the datasets
• repeating information about sub-topics that are no longer of interest for this edition
• presenting quality or methodology information, except for warning panels 

Organise these sections in a clear and consistent way so people can easily scan and find what they need. 

Group information by: 

• sub-topics, for example, crime may include homicide, knife crime and burglaries
• geographies, for example, countries, regions and local authorities, following a logical order
• characteristics, such as age, sex, ethnicity
• comparisons, either over time, internationally or with other data sources 

Each section should lead with the narrative, and follow a consistent pattern that helps users to: 

• get the latest figures and trends
• understand what has changed and why
• access more detailed or supporting information 

Use clear subheadings to break up the content and help people find what they are looking for.  

Include information that is not essential for everyone to read within accordions. 

View an example of detailed analysis sections that follow this guidance (opens in a new tab) 

Definitions

Clear definitions help users to understand what the statistics cover. Use a dedicated section with an accordion for each term to help users find the definition they need. Aim for up to six of the most important definitions. 

Definitions are added through a central ONS glossary in the CMS and reused across multiple articles. This is to ensure consistency across our content. 

Dataset links

Include up to six links to the most useful and relevant datasets used to produce your statistical article. 

The format of this section is automated within the CMS to display the page title and link, release date, content type and page summary.

Data from other statistics producers (optional section)

The purpose of this section is to give a coherent picture of available statistics on this topic. You can include this optional section if our users need to: 

• know what data are available from other statistics producers
• know if they can compare or combine them with ONS data and, if so, to what extent
• easily navigate to them 

Other statistics producers can be national statistics institutes in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, other government departments or private statistics producers. 

We use a clear and consistent table format for this section to: 

• list what data are available and link to them
• give the name of the statistics producer
• show a rating of “highly”, “broadly” or “not” comparable for each source
• signpost to the quality and methods guide to find out why we have given these ratings 

Quality, methods and data sources

The purpose of this section is to provide clear and consistent links to relevant supporting information about the quality and methods information for the statistics and data sources. It is also to give information about the accreditation status of the statistics. 

Research shows that users prefer clearly defined pages, with clear user journeys between them. Statistical articles are designed to provide analysis and context and should not contain detailed quality and methodology information.  

Include this information in your supporting quality and methods guide and data sources guide and link users directly to it using the following subsections: 

• About the statistics
• About the data sources
• Accredited official statistics, or Official statistics in development, where applicable 

About the statistics subsection

Use the related links format to direct users to the quality and methods guide (previously called the QMI). This includes the title, summary, last revised date, content type and link. You can also link to one-off methods publications about the statistics. 

About the data sources subsection

Use the related links format to direct users to the data sources guide or guides. This includes the title, summary, last revised date, content type and link. You can also link to one-off methods publications about the statistics.  

Accredited official statistics, or Official statistics in development subsection

This subsection provides users with a short statement about the official designation of the statistics. 

Use the standard wording agreed with the Office for Statistics Regulation and the Statistics Head of Profession Office for: 

• accredited official statistics (opens in a new tab) 
• official statistics in development (opens in a new tab) 

Read more in our Statistical designation or status guidance for publications. 

Related links

Include up to six links to relevant, timely and useful pages within the ONS website that are not linked elsewhere in the content. 

The format of this section is automated within the CMS to display the page title and link, release date, content type and page summary.