Introduction
How we write dates, times and numbers affects how easy our information is to read and understand. Consistency is important in council communications to avoid confusion.
This guidance explains the standard formats to use.
Dates
Use the examples below when writing dates:
- 19 May
- 19 May 2025
- Monday, 19 May
- the 70s, the 1990s – no apostrophe required
- 1976-79 to show periods of time
- 2024/25 to show academic or financial year
- in summer 2025 – seasons should always be lowercase.
Times
Use the 12-hour clock:
- 7am, 8pm. Refer to 12 noon and 12 midnight rather than 12pm and 12am.
For events that run over a period of time, use:
- 1-3pm or 10am-4pm.
There is no need to use the noughts, as this makes it harder to read. For example it should be 10am-4pm not 10.00am - 4.00pm.
Numbers
Write numbers zero to nine as the written word and numbers 10 to 999,999 as figures, except:
- at the start of a sentence – always write the number out in full
- in a table – always write the number as a numeral
- when writing a measurement – always use numerals such as £5, 10kg, 8pm
- when writing about education stages – always use numerals such as year 6, key stage 1
- if you are writing numbers that are joined by a hyphen – ages 5-16.