Change log

February 2026

Terminal illness – new entry, only use 'terminal illness' when there's a clear user need, and never in letters to clients
Bold – updated, bold should not be used for emphasis
Colons and semicolons – updated, use colons to introduce bullet lists and direct quotes. Do not use semicolons
Yours faithfully, yours sincerely – removed, valedictions are fully covered in the letter templates

Next of kin – new entry, do not use this term when referring to the person we contact after a death
Easy read – new entry, explain the term when you use it as it’s often misunderstood
How we write page - a quick guide to help you write so people can understand

Assistance - new entry, do not use assistance to refer to payments
Benefit, award, payment - updated to encourage plain language and clarify to use payment wherever you can, moved 'assistance' guidance to new entry
Naming services and systems - new entry
Personal Acting Body (PAB) and Corporate Acting Body (CAB) - new entry, either name the specific type or use client representative
Numbers - updated to include key advice on using numerals and naming parts of a form

Application Capture Tool - new entry
Appointment Booking Tool - new entry
Links and URLs - update to advice on offline content and letters and forms
System names - removed entry, replaced with 'Application Capture Tool' and 'Appointment Booking Tool'

Death - updated to explain nuance and encourage user testing
Legal language - added guidance to help users understand and meet legal requirements
Regulations and acts - added guidance more specific to Social Security Scotland
Stillbirth - new entry
Income - new entry
Suspensions - new entry

Active voice - updated examples to be Social Security Scotland specific, added 'passive' to title
Capital letters - changed to more directive language
Links and URLs - added URL standards for each content type
Select and switch - new entry