Typography

Consistent typography improves readability and accessibility for all users across devices.

Body text

Text forms the main content of a web page.

Dos

Use the system font for body copy

Use design tokens where possible

When applying design tokens or colour to body copy, use the correct intent

Allow text to wrap so it is readable

Don'ts

Italics can make text difficult to read for users with dyslexia or dyspraxia, as they can cause the text to appear to run together and create crowding. Screen readers also may not pick up the emphasis.

Avoid using a font size less than 14px for body text

Avoid using the italic type style

Avoid truncating the content

Line length

This line length was reduced in 2026 from 90 to 80 characters; please adjust where possible.

Aim to keep lines around 80 characters for readability. Context and type size will be factors in the value you select.

Whitespace

Link styles

Global guidelines — Link styles (light surface)

Link text is underlined

On hover, the colour changes based on the state

Focus outline located around the text element

Writing links

We regularly link to other pages, tools and resources – both internal and external.

Only link when it’s useful

Clicking a link interrupts a user’s journey, taking them to a different page or website. Some users find it hard to navigate back to their journey. Or they may spend some time on the linked resource, causing their initial journey to time out.

Links can also be visually distracting, making it harder to read other content on the page.

For both of these reasons, you should include only links that are truly useful to users and carefully consider where to place them. If you need to link to several resources, it may be better to group links in a ‘Further information’ section at the bottom of the page.

Use phrase links, not single words

We prefer long text or ‘phrase’ links that include a few key words because:

They create a bigger clickable target, improving accessibility

They make it clearer where the link goes to

Follow these rules:

Use sentence case

Aim for two to five words

Include nouns and verbs in the link to help users understand what you’re linking to: ‘read our tax guide’ or ‘check your state pension forecast’, not ‘find out more’

Example:

❌ You can find more information here	✅ Find out about our pensions
Vague and hard to click Users have to interpret where the link goes – and click a small target.	Clear destination, bigger target This makes the link easier to understand.