Bullet points and numbered lists – Content style guide – Service manual

Bullet points and numbered lists – Content style guide – Service manual – Office for National Statistics (2024)

Overview

Bullets points and numbered lists can be used to help break up your content. They often make complex content clearer and easier to read and understand.

Bullet points

We use bullet points, also known as a bulleted list, in two different ways: as a list within the text, and as a list following a heading.

List within the text

Use bullet points to make text easier to read. Make sure that:

you always use a lead-in line
the bullet points make sense running on from the lead-in line, or form a list that continues the topic of the lead-in line
each bullet point only includes one short sentence
you use lower case at the start of the bullet point, unless it starts with a proper noun
you do not use full stops within bullet points – where possible, start another bullet point or use commas, dashes, or semicolons to expand
there is no punctuation at the end of bullet points and no full stop after the last bullet point
you do not put “or” or “and” after the bullet points
if you add links, they appear within the text and not as the whole bullet point

Your list should have at least two bullet points. If you have fewer, rewrite your content as individual sentences or paragraphs.

Commonly reported increases in the cost of living were:

the price of food shopping (96%)
gas or electricity bills (57%)
the price of fuel (37%)
rent or mortgage costs (27%)

List following a heading

Do not use a lead-in line.
Bullet points follow on directly from a heading or subheading.
Starts with a capital letter.
Finishes with a full stop.
Only includes one short sentence.

Main points

When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues remain the cost of living (91%), the NHS (82%), the economy (77%), and climate change and the environment (60%).
Around 6 in 10 (62%) adults reported that their cost of living had increased compared with a month ago; this proportion appears to have gradually decreased since early April 2023, when it was at 76%.
Around half (47%) of adults reported that their rent or mortgage payments have gone up in the last six months, which has increased since June 2022 when it was 30%.

Numbered lists

Use numbered lists when describing a sequence that must appear in a specific order, such as for:

a set of instructions
a series of sequential questions
a top 10 list

Each step or item should be a new point in the list.

These lists follow a similar style to bulleted lists, but:

must be a complete, concise single sentence
have an initial capital letter in the first word
end with a full stop or question mark

Remedial actions to take for quality assurance:

Clarify contact details for Consumer Intelligence.
Seek further quality assurance information from Consumer Intelligence.
Establish a dedicated contact for Moneyfact and keep current.
Seek further detail of Moneyfact’s quality assurance procedures.

If the items in the list do not need to be in a specific order, use bullet points.