Communications and Engagement V1.4
November 2013
Kent County Council - style guide
This guide is to help everyone working at Kent County Council be consistent. This will
project a positive and professional image.
Top tips for good style
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Use everyday English
Be concise and to the point
Unless essential, avoid technical terms and jargon
Use correct grammar and punctuation
Try to use an average sentence length of no more than 15-20 words
Help readers by using headings and lists
Use positive language
All material needs to be in the KCC tone of voice (see brand guidelines)
Everyone has their own style of writing but consistency is essential for a successful brand.
The following areas will help with those common stumbling blocks. To find out more about each
section read below:
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Our name
Abbreviations and acronyms
English not American
Apostrophes
Bullet points
Capital letters
Figures
Plain English
Tone
Quotation marks
Hyphens
Double spaces
Exclamation marks
Words to avoid and alternatives to use
Some final tips on layout
Communications and Engagement V1.4
November 2013
Our name
Kent County Council is a single organisation: Kent County Council is, not Kent County Council
are.
We are not the Kent County Council.
KCC (and other acronyms) does not have full stops in between the letters.
Abbreviations and acronyms
Abbreviations as they can be confusing, so avoid them.
When talking about a council member, you do not need to use a title or capital letter
Example:
‘… as stated by Stephen Taylor, member for Ashford Coastal…’
Always spell out names of organisations in full. Only use acronyms if you name an organisation
more than once in a document. Refer to the organisation in full the first time, with the shortened
version used from that point onwards. Treat all acronyms with caution.
Example: UK Border Agency (UKBA).’
Do not abbreviate commonly used words such as days of the week, the word telephone, extension
and months.
Recognised contractions (such as Mr, Dr, Cllr) are acceptable. Contractions in words such as I’m
and wouldn’t are acceptable as a more informal way of communicating with residents. However,
please do not overuse them. Don’t use text-speak contractions – leaving out vowels, typically –as
this can make the text difficult to read, especially for people using accessibility tools such as
screen readers
Americanisms
Avoid using z instead of s. For example, recognise, not recognize. Check you have English (UK)
set on your PC spellchecker.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes can mean either possession or abbreviation.
Example of possession: ‘Mrs Smith’s car was painted green and yellow.’
In this example, the apostrophe indicates that the car belongs to Mrs Smith.
Example of abbreviation: ‘Mr Jones hasn’t got a ticket for the train.’
In this example, the apostrophe is used to abbreviate has not to hasn’t.
Its and it’s
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November 2013
Avoid the common mistake of adding an apostrophe to possessive words as computer spell
checkers often don’t pick this up:
Example of possessive use of ‘its’: ‘the report should be shown on its own’
Example of abbreviated from of ‘it is’: ‘It’s so hot outside’
Never use an apostrophe to indicate a plural.
It is one document and two documents, not two document’s. It is one potato and two potatoes, not
two potato’s.
Bullet points
Bullet points are a great way of getting messages across in a simple way. But we need to make
sure there’s consistency. Make sure they are punchy, like this:
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colon at the end of the previous sentence
lower case at the beginning of bullet
no punctuation after bullets - except for the last one which ends in a full stop.
Capital letters
Do not overuse capitals. They make documents difficult to read, however they are read (on paper,
on screen, on a mobile phone etc). It is harder for people to understand text with lots of capital
letters, which jar the eye. Don’t write whole words or sentences in capitals. Avoid italics which can
make reading harder for people with dyslexia or who are partially sighted.
Capitalise:
 words at the beginning of a sentence
 proper nouns
 directorate names
 department names
 qualifications
 title of an Act of Parliament
Kent County Council
Maidstone Borough Council
The government,
The South East
The county
but the council
but the borough council in Maidstone
not the Government, national or central government
not the south-east or the southeast
not the County
Communications and Engagement V1.4
November 2013
Non-KCC specific titles and names
Use capitals for titles prefixing names, but not for job descriptions.
Mayor of Swale, John Smith, but I met the mayor of Swale
Note: You can use some job titles on their own – for example prime minister.
Example: The prime minister of Great Britain is the leader of the party that wins the
most seats. The Right Honourable David Cameron MP is the current prime minister.
Example: John Smith is Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman handles
complaints.
KCC specific titles and names
Use capitals when referring to the actual person holding a specific position but not when referring
to any holder of that role unless it is a statutory position.
Always use a capital letter or letters for the following:
Leader of the Council
Chairman
Head of Paid Service
Head of Public Health
Director of Children’s Services
Example: ‘Paul Carter became Leader in 2007’
‘I wonder who will be the next Leader of the Council’.
Example: Eric Hotson is the Chairman of the Council
I wonder who the Chairman will be next year.
How to refer to cabinet members and directors
We refer to cabinet members as ‘members’ not ‘councillors’ and
Cabinet members
Examples: The Chairman invited Mark Dance, Cabinet Member for Economic
Development to attend the event. Other cabinet members were not invited.
Members of staff are required to sign a contract by our Head of Paid Service.
Traditionally brackets have been used around the name of the party that a member is associated
with but try to avoid using abbreviations such as (Cons).
Directors
Examples:
Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director of Education and Young People Services.
Patrick Leeson is a corporate director of the council.
The director of Education and Young People Services gave authorisation.
Our directors are members of the corporate management team (CMT).
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Directorates
Capitalise only when using the correct title of a directorate. You can also give the acronym on first
use, just using the acronym in the document thereafter.
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Social Care, Health and Wellbeing
Education and Young People’s Services
Growth, Environment and Transport
Strategic and Corporate Services
A directorate management team (DMT) leads each directorate.
Services
Capitalise only when using the service name in full, such as Communications and Engagement,
but not when referring to the service.
Generic terms like the communications team, social services or emergency planning should not be
capitalised.
Teams
Capitalise only when using the actual team name in full, as in:
The Emergency Planning Team provides a programme of emergency planning training. To find out
more contact the team.
Internal council publications and reports
Titles and headlines - only capitalise the first word and any proper nouns.
Legal terms: Sometimes legal documents use capitals for key terms. There is no need to do this in
general council publications and reports. If you need to explain a word, or expression, you can use
a footnote or provide a glossary.
Miscellaneous
The Freedom of Information Act allows anyone to submit a freedom of information request.
The Data Protection Act introduces strict rules about data protection.
Members sit on the council.
Joe Bloggs is a member of the Challenger Group – Joe Bloggs is a challenger
Cabinet member, Roger Gough. Roger Gough is a member of the Cabinet of the council.
Avoid using the collective noun staff and where possible use members of staff instead.
Figures
Dates: No commas. Not 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Use the full year
Example: Thursday 1 January 2013
Times: Use standard 12-hour format followed by am or pm (with no space afterwards).
Avoid unnecessary zeroes - 9am or 11am, but do use 11.15pm, 3.30pm.
Use noon or midnight - not 12midday or 12midnight, 12am or 12pm.
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Money: No decimal places for round numbers, instead write £5.
If writing million or billion, no space should be left between the number and the unit of money.
Example: £5bn, £13m
(Where possible, write the whole word instead of using abbreviations – billion, million)
Numbers: Write numbers one to nine as words and 10 upwards as figures.
There are a few exceptions, such as Key Stage1 as it is a recognised brand. Sentences should
never start with figures.
Avoid using 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Instead write in full – first, second and third.
Telephone numbers: Write these without brackets and with a space after the area code.
If you are writing a local telephone number with a five figure area code put the space after the
code but not within the rest of the number – 01622 690000.
For numbers starting with 03000 for example the Contact Centre number use this format: 03000
41 41 41.
Plain English
Use plain English when communicating with any audience. Never overcomplicate the text, be
consistent and be careful not to use jargon.
If you need to use specialist terms, explain them. Keep sentences short. If a sentence is long and
involved, break it up or rephrase the message until it is clear and easy to understand.
KCC’s Campaigns and Marketing Team can proofread any document for you to make sure it is
clear and in plain English. Contact your communications account manager or use the work request
form on KNet.
Tone
Try not to switch between the personal (we) and impersonal (they) in the same document. We
write press releases, for example, in an impersonal style with KCC as the third person. Try to be
more personal in documents that are for public distribution or for colleagues.
See KCC’s branding guidelines for further advice on tone of voice.
Quotation marks
Use double quotes to indicate something someone has actually said. Use single quotation marks
for quotes within quotes.
Example:
James said: “It was nice to meet…”
Avoid using single quotation marks to emphasise words. Where appropriate, use italics instead.
Communications and Engagement V1.4
November 2013
Hyphens
Keep hyphens to a minimum. Although you mau hyphenate compound nouns such as build-up, do
not hyphenate the verb to build up, or many others like it.
Similarly, ‘up-to-date figures’ includes hyphens, but ‘the figures are up to date’ should not. Do not
hyphenate adverbs linked to verbs unless there is a risk of ambiguity. A closely guarded secret
does not need a hyphen. Be aware that the adverb could be mistaken for an adjective. A ‘little
used car’ is not the same as a ’little-used car’, nor is a ‘hard working man’ the same as a ‘hardworking man’. On rare occasions a second hyphen may be included, such as in 12-year-olds.
The hyphen can be left out of words that start with re or pre, except where another e follows. For
example re-entry and pre-empt but reopen and preconceive. The same is true for ‘co’ except
where another ‘o’ follows co-ordination but we write coaxial without a hyphen. The words email
and website do not need hyphens.
Double spaces
Do not use two spaces between words or sentences.
Exclamation marks
These have no place in well-written text unless - and this is very rare - an exclamation is used. An
exclamation is a short expression of surprise, shock or anger. Wow! Help! You surprise me! There
should only ever be one.
Words to avoid
Suggestions
access
acquire
additional
adjacent
alleviate
as a means to
assist
at this moment in time
by no later than
carriageway / highway
comprehensible
consisted of
evidenced by
enabling
facilitate
facility / amenity
fare
fayre
in order to
in order that
in receipt of
be more specific (open, understand, visit, go to)
buy, rent, steal
extra
next
reduce or ease
to
help at the present time /
now
by
road
easy to understand
was or had
use shown by instead
helping
help
be more specific (the centre, the playing field)
food
fair)
to
so
getting
Communications and Engagement V1.4
meet up with / meet with
ongoing
persons
pre-book
prior to
purchase
re/regarding
situated
so as to
unit
utilise
undertake
upcoming
with regard to
will be required to
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meet
continuing / current
people, men, women, children
book
before
buy
about
in
to
building, house, house, home, flat
use
carry out, do, build – use the right verb
forthcoming
about
must
Some final tips on layout
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Use left justification where possible
Use Arial 12 point or larger as a font where possible
Don’t include Word art or clip art in your documents
Only use copyright-free photos or get permission from the owner for use.
Use single line spacing for body text and add an extra line space between paragraphs
Stick to black text on white for body text within a document
Do not underline headings or words in the body of the text unless hyperlinks
Remember that abbreviations, jargon and slang can alienate and exclude the reader, and
prevent them from understanding what is being said.
There are standard conventions for different types of communications,(e.g. online or printed
materials) so if you need something written for members of the public, the Communications Team
can give you advice about the best words to use. Please use the communication work request on
KNet for further help and advice.
See also: Free guides on the Plain English Campaign website