Content Guidelines - Make your principles plain

We’ve made formal commitments to the Secretary of State for Transport and the HS2 Residents’ Commissioner to apply plain English principles across all our writing for the public and our stakeholders.

Plain English makes our writing quick, easy and understandable for our audiences. It shows that we are can-do and neighbourly by being technical experts who can communicate complexities in a way that’s accessible to everyone.

The basic principles are:

We always want to communicate in a clear and concise way so that everyone understands who we are and what our message is. We also need to ensure that all our communications are consistent and easily recognisable as coming from HS2 Ltd.

This section is designed to help you when writing on behalf of HS2 Ltd. It covers the tone of voice and types of language that will identify your communications as coming from HS2 Ltd, as well as editorial style guidance to help you keep all the details consistent.

Start

Start your document with your key message or call to action right up front. Emphasise it so it stands out (e.g. in bold). Also make sure you include all essential information at the start – dates, times, locations, contact details etc – so your reader doesn’t have to hunt through your writing for these things.

Swap

Swap formal language for normal language. Write for your audience, as if you’re speaking to them face to face. Avoid language your audience won’t understand – a technical document can use technical terms, a public facing document shouldn’t.

Also swap ambiguous language for clear language, so it’s clear who’s responsible for what, when. This means using the active voice wherever possible e.g. “We will provide materials” not “Materials will be provided”.

Chunk

Chunk your writing up into paragraphs, with just one idea or argument in a paragraph. Start each paragraph with a meaningful subheading, so readers can skim- read just the subheadings, if they wish, and they’ll still get the gist of the document.

If some writing can be chunked up into bulleted lists, do so.

Chop

Chop up your sentences into fewer than 25 words. Chop out jargon.

Chop out anything that can be better communicated visually, for instance, in a photograph, a chart, an infographic or a map.

Chop out anything your audience doesn’t absolutely need to know – less is more.

Chop out any colours, icons and illustrations that don’t aid understanding and are just decorations.

Find out more at www.plainenglish.co.uk