Summaries give users more information about what the publication or page contains. They appear directly under the title on the page and help users decide if they want to read on. 

Summaries should:

• be in plain language and using terms and phrases that users are likely to use
• be fewer than 160 characters including spaces 
• be frontloaded with the most important information first
• include the geography and the period that the data cover
• have any abbreviations written out in full
• be sentence case and include a full stop at the end

The summary can be the same as the meta description (as long as it is not longer than 160 characters).

Bulletin summaries

Bulletins are our main output for providing new analysis and data to the public. It is important that summaries are clear, concise and frontloaded to engage as many people as possible. Use plain language and avoid including technical jargon. 

Avoid using phrases like “This bulletin covers…” as it delays users getting to the main information. The summary should not be used to provide a definition of a topic, as we have a Glossary section for that.

Labour market overview, UK: May 2019
Estimates of employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other employment-related statistics for the UK.

More detailed guidance on bulletin summaries is available.

Article summaries

Articles can be used to provide analysis or information on a range of topics. We have identified seven different types of articles on the ONS website and so the article summary is important for helping users understand more about what the article covers. 

The summary should begin with the most important information and avoid phrases like “This article is going to show…” or “An analytical article on…”.

Let users know if the article contains Experimental Statistics by including a sentence at the end with “Experimental Statistics” in brackets. Any technical terms can be explained in the article or included in the keywords.

Earnings and employment for disabled and non-disabled people in the UK, raw disability pay gaps and factors that affect pay for disabled people.

Annual progress update on our transformation of population, migration and social statistics.

More detailed guidance on article summaries is available.

Dataset summaries

The “About this dataset” section of a dataset page provides users with a brief summary of what they can expect to find in the Excel downloads. 

This summary should be clear, concise and frontloaded. It should contain the geographical coverage (if it is not already in the title) and the frequency of the data (for example, annual, quarterly, monthly).

Annual burglary data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). Data include when incidents happened, information about offenders, the victim’s perception of the incident, and what items were stolen.