On GOV.UK PDFs (and a large variety of other file types) are presented as 'publications', which means they get a landing (or umbrella) page that provides extra information about the publication.
This includes a summary, additional detail about the document, the file type and size, information about accessibility of that particular document - like this HMRC publication on tackling tax evasion.
This landing page is designed to give users the information they need to decide if they want to read the document in full, in case they've found it through search. In this way, publications make sense as stand-alone content items.
When linking to a publication from any other format (like a detailed guide), you must link to the landing page. It is technically possible to link directly to the document as it sits within the landing page but if that document is ever changed, the link will break.
Linking to the landing page instead ensures the user will always be directed somewhere (we wouldn't ever remove a page without redirecting it). It also means you don't need to include information about the document in the link text.
Some GOV.UK formats allow you to add attachments to the page, which means you can link straight to the attached document from the text. This should only be used for documents that aren't considered a publication and that don't need to be independently searchable.
GDS encourage editors to make sure the documents they're uploading to GOV.UK are accessible. You should use the tick box on the publications content type to indicate when documents are accessible so that a user can make an informed decision about whether or not to read them.
2 comments
Comment by Kevin Ringer posted on
GOV.UK PDFs are inferior to HMRC.GOV.UK PDFs. Contrast a typical gov.uk one https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277523/EA_Guidance.pdf with a typical hmrc.gov.uk one http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/isa/isa-guidance-notes.pdf. hmrc.gov.uk includes a title, page numbers, states who is publishing it, what legislation it is based on contact phone numbers, postal addresses etc. It also includes a publication date so you know what version you are looking at. In contrast gov.uk contains none of these items so if you have printed it out you have no idea who published it, when, what it is based on, what page you are looking at etc. Very poor.
Comment by Stephen Edwards posted on
Hi Kevin,
The PDFs such as the one you link to are still published by the agency, in this case, HMRC. So both PDFs you refer to have been published by HMRC.
Thank you for flagging up the Employment Allowance PDF on GOV.UK. This is not to GOV.UK style and clearly not to the standard you also expect to see from HMRC. I will flag this up with the HMRC publishing team as this PDF should not have been published in the form it is in. FAQ's are definitely not to style: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2013/07/25/faqs-why-we-dont-have-them/
Don't forget, you can flag up problems with any page on GOV.UK by using the feedback link at the bottom of every page.
Thanks for your feedback,
Stephen