Brand toolkit

These colours help establish the visual identity of the ADR UK brand. They are vibrant, bold colours that match the aesthetic of the logo mark. These are the colours that should come to mind when thinking of ADR UK.

The heading font is Gentium Book Basic Bold. Keep headlines short. You may use Gentium Book Basic Bold Italic to highlight words within the heading.

Gentium Book Basic Bold

Gentium Book Basic Bold Italic

   

Body copy should be set in Lato Regular, Lato Italic, Lato Bold and Lato Bold Italic where appropriate.

Lato Regular

Lato Italic

Lato Bold

Lato Bold Italic

   

These fonts are available for free and can be downloaded from Google Fonts:

• Gentium: Gentium Book Plus - Google Fonts
• Lato: Lato - Google Fonts

You can copy and paste any of the text below for use in your own communications.

ADR UK introduction

ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) is a partnership transforming the way researchers access the UK’s wealth of public sector data, to enable better informed policy decisions that improve lives. By linking together data held by different parts of government and facilitating safe and secure access for accredited researchers to these newly joined-up and de-identified datasets, ADR UK is creating a sustainable body of knowledge about how our society and economy function – tailored to give decision makers the answers they need to solve important policy questions.

ADR UK is made up of four national partnerships (ADR England, ADR Northern Ireland, ADR Scotland and ADR Wales), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Together they ensure data provided by UK government bodies is accessed by researchers in a safe and secure form with minimal risk to data owners or the public.

The partnership is coordinated by a UK-wide Strategic Hub, which also promotes the benefits of administrative data research to the public and the wider research community, engages with UK Government to secure access to data, and manages a dedicated research budget.

ADR UK is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation.

To find out more, visit adruk.org or follow @ADR_UK on Twitter.

ADR UK's mission

Good government policy – policy that solves social and economic problems and improves lives – needs good evidence. But good quality evidence is expensive and time-consuming to produce and evidence from academic research can also have a different focus from what government needs most to make policy decisions and deliver effective services. 

ADR UK aims to solve both these problems by transforming the way researchers access the UK’s wealth of public sector data. By joining up the abundance of administrative data already being created by government and public bodies across the UK and making it available to approved researchers in a safe and secure way, we are enabling vital research that has the potential to lead to better informed policy decisions and more effective public services, in areas from improving education and healthcare to tackling crime. 

ADR UK’s work plays an important role in bridging the gap between government and academia, enabling government policy to be informed by the best evidence available, and putting us on the path to a future in which the true potential of administrative data to improve society is realised. 

What is administrative data?

Administrative data is created when people interact with public services, such as schools, the NHS, the courts or the benefits system. These public bodies must keep records of these interactions for operational purposes: to enable them to carry out their day-to-day work, to monitor and improve their performance, and keep providing services in an effective way. 

For instance, the Department for Education (in England and Wales) collects data on educational attainment to identify schools and subjects where improvement is needed; HMRC collects data on tax and incomes to assess compliance and inform tax policies; and the NHS records details of admissions and appointments to monitor trends in hospital activity. Administrative data also includes basic information about people in the UK, such as notifications of births, deaths and marriages, the electoral register, and national censuses. 

Across the UK as a whole, administrative data is currently a largely untapped, but information-rich, resource. This wealth of data, the majority of which was not originally created for research but as a by-product of government services, has the potential to create important knowledge, providing powerful insights into our society and in turn pointing to areas where change is needed. 

Funding acknowledgments

Short version: This work [was/is] supported by ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK), an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) investment (part of UK Research and Innovation). [Grant number: xxxxxx]

Long version: This work [was/is] supported by ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK). ADR UK is a partnership transforming the way researchers access the UK’s wealth of public sector data, to enable better informed policy decisions that improve people’s lives. ADR UK is an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) investment (part of UK Research and Innovation). [Grant number: xxxxxx]

Email signature

[Your name]

[Title]

ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK)

ADR UK is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

(part of UK Research and Innovation)

[Your email | Your twitter handle] adruk.org | @ADR_UK

Guidance on copywriting

Written content in the ADR UK style follows some basic principles. The ADR UK writing style guide covers:

• Accessibility
• ADR UK naming conventions
• ADR UK / administrative data research-specific terminology
• Numbers and dates
• Punctuation and formatting
• Grammar and spelling
• Political / government terminology
• Inclusive language
• Other vocabulary.

When producing written or visual outputs, it is important to ensure they can be seen and interpreted by everyone. This section provides best practice guidance around accessibility, which we are conscious of in all ADR UK communications and guidance.

Visuals

There are some general rules of thumb to consider when producing any type of visual content, including images, videos, and data visualisations:

• Include alt text and captions for any imagery or videos wherever possible: Be as clear as possible and avoid jargon or acronyms. Include the title, source, and findings.
• Be aware of colours and fonts: Use consistent, distinguishable colours and fonts that contrast each other and the plain background. Use sans serif fonts that are big and simple. Do not just use colour alone when indicating something, and consider using labels, symbols, and patterns. Limit the number of colours used in a chart or graph - you might instead choose to use shades of one colour or greyscale.

Text

• Write in plain language suitable for a general reader and avoid unnecessary jargon.
• Keep sentences under 30 words where possible (average sentence length 15 words).
• Where you need to use specialist terminology, consider whether a definition would be useful to your audience.
• Use bullet point lists to break up complex information.
• Make all links descriptive. ‘Read our new report on Covid-19 cases in England.’ is good. ‘Click here to read our new report on Covid-19 cases in England’ is bad.
• Break up pages with headings and subheadings to help people navigate the information.
• Use acronyms consciously and with consideration for the audience. They make content inaccessible and off-putting to readers. Limit acronym use to commonly used names (ONS, NHS, MoJ) or if a phrase appears many multiple times in a document. Always write the first use in full.

Additional information

• The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has listed useful data visualisation guidance in their service manual. It discusses chart text, axes and gridlines, annotations, and ordering, as well as specific information around interactive charts and dashboards.
• The Government Analysis Function lists guidance around colours in data visualisation, guidance around charts, and an accessibility checklist for charts,
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines list comprehensive information on making your web content more accessible.