Help Terms and conditions

This page and any pages it links to explains GOV.UK’s terms of use. You must agree to these to use GOV.UK.

Who we are

GOV.UK is managed by Government Digital Service (GDS) on behalf of the Crown. GDS is part of the Cabinet Office and will be referred to as ‘we’ from now on.

Using GOV.UK

You agree to use GOV.UK only for lawful purposes. You must also use it in a way that doesn’t infringe the rights of, or restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of, this site by anyone else.

We update GOV.UK all the time. We can change or remove content at any time without notice.

Services and transactions

You can use GOV.UK to access online government services and transactions, eg GOV.UK Verify or register to vote.

These can be managed by GDS or another government department or agency.

Some services have their own terms and conditions which also apply - read these before you use the service.

Linking to GOV.UK

We welcome and encourage other websites to link to GOV.UK.

You must contact us for permission if you want to either:

  • charge your website’s users to click on a link to any page on GOV.UK
  • say your website is associated with or endorsed by GOV.UK or another government department or agency

Linking from GOV.UK

GOV.UK links to websites that are managed by other government departments and agencies, service providers or other organisations. We don’t have any control over the content on these websites.

We’re not responsible for:

  • the protection of any information you give to these websites
  • any loss or damage that may come from your use of these websites, or any other websites they link to

You agree to release us from any claims or disputes that may come from using these websites.

You should read all terms and conditions, privacy policies and end user licences that relate to these websites before you use them.

Using GOV.UK content

Most content on GOV.UK is subject to Crown copyright protection and is published under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

Some content is exempt from the OGL - check the list of exemptions.

Departmental logos and crests are also exempt from the OGL, except when they form an integral part of a document or dataset.

If any content isn’t subject to Crown copyright protection or published under the OGL, we’ll usually credit the author or copyright holder.

You can reproduce content published on GOV.UK under the OGL as long as you follow the licence’s conditions.

Contact us if you want to reproduce a piece of content but aren’t sure if it’s covered by Crown copyright or the OGL.

We make most of the content on GOV.UK available through feeds for other websites and applications to use. The websites and applications that use our feeds aren’t our products, and they might use versions of our content that have been edited and stored for later use (‘cached’).

We don’t give any guarantees, conditions or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any content used by these products. We’re not liable for any loss or damage that may come from your use of these products.

The most up to date version of our content will always be on GOV.UK.

Disclaimer

While we make every effort to keep GOV.UK up to date, we don’t provide any guarantees, conditions or warranties that the information will be:

  • current
  • secure
  • accurate
  • complete
  • free from bugs or viruses

We don’t publish advice on GOV.UK. You should get professional or specialist advice before doing anything on the basis of the content.

We’re not liable for any loss or damage that may come from using GOV.UK. This includes:

  • any direct, indirect or consequential losses
  • any loss or damage caused by civil wrongs (‘tort’, including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise
  • the use of GOV.UK and any websites that are linked to or from it
  • the inability to use GOV.UK and any websites that are linked to or from it

This applies if the loss or damage was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of things or you advised us that it might happen.

This includes (but isn’t limited to) the loss of your:

  • income or revenue
  • salary, benefits or other payments
  • business
  • profits or contracts
  • opportunity
  • anticipated savings
  • data
  • goodwill or reputation
  • tangible property
  • intangible property, including loss, corruption or damage to data or any computer system
  • wasted management or office time

We may still be liable for:

  • death or personal injury arising from our negligence
  • fraudulent misrepresentation
  • any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law

Requests to remove content

You can ask for content to be removed from GOV.UK. We’ll only do this in certain cases, eg if it breaches copyright laws, contains sensitive personal data or material that may be considered obscene or defamatory.

Contact us to ask for content to be removed. You’ll need to send us the web address (URL) of the content and explain why you think it should be removed. We’ll reply to let you know whether we’ll remove it.

We remove content at our discretion in discussion with the department or agency responsible for it. You can still request information under the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.

Information about you and your visits to GOV.UK

We collect information about you in accordance with our privacy policy and our cookie policy. By using GOV.UK, you agree to us collecting this information and confirm that any data you provide is accurate.

Virus protection

We make every effort to check and test GOV.UK for viruses at every stage of production. You must make sure that the way you use GOV.UK doesn’t expose you to the risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference which can damage your computer system.

We’re not responsible for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or computer system that might happen when you use GOV.UK.

Viruses, hacking and other offences

When using GOV.UK, you must not introduce viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or any other material that’s malicious or technologically harmful.

You must not try to gain unauthorised access to GOV.UK, the server on which it’s stored or any server, computer or database connected to it.

You must not attack GOV.UK in any way. This includes denial-of-service attacks.

We’ll report any attacks or attempts to gain unauthorised access to GOV.UK to the relevant law enforcement authorities and share information about you with them.

Governing law

These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Any dispute you have which relates to these terms and conditions, or your use of GOV.UK (whether it be contractual or non-contractual), will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

General

There may be legal notices elsewhere on GOV.UK that relate to how you use the site.

We’re not liable if we fail to comply with these terms and conditions because of circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

We might decide not to exercise or enforce any right available to us under these terms and conditions. We can always decide to exercise or enforce that right at a later date.

Doing this once won’t mean we automatically waive the right on any other occasion.

If any of these terms and conditions are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions will still apply.

Changes to these terms and conditions

Please check these terms and conditions regularly. We can update them at any time without notice.

You’ll agree to any changes if you continue to use GOV.UK after the terms and conditions have been updated.

Last updated: 15 June 2016