Guidelines for Acas reports

2. Using the Acas report template

Use these guidelines to format your report document.

This will help us understand the structure of your report and prepare it for publishing.

We publish most research and evaluation reports in HTML. This means the whole report is on a webpage, instead of a downloadable document. For longer reports, we may publish an executive summary on a webpage, with a full report available to download. Your Acas contact will make this decision.

The Acas template

Use the Acas template Word document that has the correct styles already set. Please do not modify or amend the styles.

Download the Acas report template (DOTX, 30KB)

If you use a different word processing package, speak to your Acas contact for guidance on how to format your text.

Use the built-in styles

Use these styles that are built in to the Word template:

• Heading 1 – main title of the report and nothing else
• Heading 2 – chapter or section titles
• Heading 3 – subheadings
• Normal – main body text (most of the report)
• Caption – figure labels
• Caption-table – table labels (this is not a built-in Word style, but is set up in the Acas template)

Do not skip levels. For example, do not go from Heading 1 to Heading 3.

Using the built-in styles will make sure the report is in line with Acas house style. It will also make it easier for users of assistive technology to navigate.

Create lists of contents, figures and tables

In your document, create a:

• table of contents
• list of figures – if the report contains charts and diagrams
• list of tables – if the report contains tables

To do this, use the built-in tools in Word or your word processing package.

Do not embed logos

Do not embed logos in the report, for example in headers or footers.

3. Acas house style

Follow these guidelines when you're writing a report.

We've included the most common things to consider. There are more style points in the full Acas style guide.

If you have any questions, ask your Acas contact.

Report length

Generally, aim for around 8,000 to 10,000 words, unless otherwise agreed with your Acas contact.

This is around 25 pages, including charts and tables.

Use appendices if necessary but keep these brief. These are not counted in the word or page count.

Sentence and paragraph length

Keep paragraphs short – maximum 5 lines per paragraph.

Also keep sentences clear and short. Aim for a maximum of 15 to 20 words.

Fonts and text formatting

Century Gothic size 12 is our standard font for anything being published in a document. This is built into the Acas report template.

To format your text:

• do not use italics or bold
• left-align all text – do not justify text
• do not use text boxes – these are not accessible

Acronyms and initialisms

Only use acronyms and initialisms on their own if they're very well known – for example, HR, EU, UK.

In all other cases, write out acronyms and initialisms in full. Include the acronym or initialism in brackets the first time.

Use 'covid-19 (coronavirus)' when first mentioning it. Then 'covid' after that or in titles.

Abbreviations

Generally, do not use abbreviations.

Examples:

• use 'for example' – do not use 'e.g.' or 'eg'
• use 'that is' or an alternative phrase – do not use 'i.e.' or 'ie'

Grammar and style

You should:

• use plainer terms where these are available
• use 'Acas' not 'ACAS'
• use Acas as singular ('Acas is' not 'Acas are') – the possessive is Acas's
• avoid the passive voice – say 'the evidence showed' rather than 'it was found that'
• keep phrases short – for example 'to' instead of 'in order to'
• only use hyphens to join words together – use an en dash in all other cases
• use the appropriate word, not a forward slash (/) – for example 'employers and employees', not 'employers / employees'
• write years as '2024 to 2025' – not '2024-2025' or '2024/2025'
• only use "double quotes" when directly quoting – otherwise use 'single quotes'

Headings

Use these guidelines:

• write clear headings that will help users to navigate through the report
• do not duplicate headings
• find a way to differentiate similar headings – for example 'Quantitative methodology' and 'Qualitative methodology', not 'Methodology 1' and 'Methodology 2'
• number section headings – for example '1. Introduction'
• use sentence case

Inclusive language

You should:

• refer to the Acas style guide for more information on using inclusive language
• make it clear where you're quoting someone else's language

If you're working on something that's specifically about certain protected characteristics, speak to your Acas contact. They can give you more details about appropriate language.

Links

Add links as text that describes where the link goes.

Do not link directly to downloadable documents unless there's no alternative. Link to the web page that the document is attached to.

Lists

Lists are a useful way to break up long sentences.

Bullet-point lists

For bullet-point lists:

• consider using lists instead of sentences that contain multiple elements or ideas
• lead into the list with a sentence ending in a colon, as in this section
• use one sentence per bullet point, breaking up longer bullets if necessary to keep to one idea per bullet
• do not end bullet points with 'or' or 'and'
• do not end with a full stop or any form of punctuation, unless the bullet is a question

Numbered lists

For numbered lists:

• only use a numbered list when you're describing a process that has to happen in a certain order
• unlike bullet points, they do not need a lead-in line – but it's fine to have one
• use full sentences
• end each step with a full stop – this is different to bullet-point lists where punctuation is only included for questions

Quotations

If you're quoting people:

• wrap the quotation in double quote marks
• attribute the quote at the end
• use normal font – do not put the quote in italics or use a different style or font
• use a lead-in line to introduce the quote – for example 'one delegate said'

Example of quotation formatting

One attendee on the course said:

"I found it so useful – I recommend it to all my colleagues, and three of them have booked on."

Training delegate, Introduction to Line Management

4. Numbers

This guidance is for writing numbers in written text, as well as images and tables.

Use these rules alongside guidance on:

• charts and diagrams
• tables

Writing about numbers

You should:

• write all numbers in numerals – including 1 to 9 and 0
• for numbers over 999, insert a comma for clarity – 9,000
• consider whether it would be clearer to write numbers as words; always write very large numbers (1 million or more) in words – 6 million not 6,000,000
• use a % sign for percentages – 50%
• use a 0 where there's no digit before the decimal point – 0.5
• use a £ symbol when writing an amount of money (or applicable currency)
• use 'to' in numerical ranges – '16 to 24' not '16-24'
• where you do not need exact numbers, round them up or down – £148.6 million instead of £148,646,000, 63% instead of 62.98% (round up for numbers ending in 5 or above)
• remove decimals where they're not needed – £10 is easier to read than £10.00 but £10.56 is okay if it needs to be an exact number
• write years as '2024 to 2025' – not '2024-2025' or '2024/2025'

5. Footnotes, endnotes and references

We recognise that research reports often need to include references or more detailed descriptions. Use the points below to guide you on this.

Footnotes and endnotes

Follow this guidance:

• do not use footnotes or endnotes – add the text into the main body of the document in brackets after the point being made
• keep technical notes brief and in the main body of the document if at all possible
• where technical notes cannot be kept brief enough to include in the main text, add them at the end of the report – add a reference in the main text on where to find them, for example: 'see Appendix 2 for survey questions'

References

Use the Harvard referencing style:

• this includes short references in text, and full references in an appendix at the end of the document
• use 'et al' in references where applicable
• do not use 'ibid' – just repeat the short reference in text

6. Charts and diagrams

Charts, graphs and other figures can make information easier for users to understand.

However, they can be difficult for some users to read. For example, people who:

• use a screen reader
• have difficulty distinguishing colour, for example someone who is colour blind

When to use a chart or image

Images should be assistive. Never use an image as the only way of communicating information.

If information can be conveyed without an image, this is often more accessible and clearer. For example, a table might convey everything that would have been in a chart, or just a sentence or two might be enough.

Charts need to be simple and easy for readers to understand. Use these principles:

• do not use charts just to add colour, or just to break up the text
• do not use images that are purely text – move the text into the body of the report instead
• convey minimal messages in each chart
• combine data if the fine detail is not needed – for example combine 'very likely' and 'fairly likely' into just 'likely'
• ideally, have no more than 4 data categories
• you should only need a couple of sentences to describe the message – if you cannot describe a chart in a couple of sentences, it needs simplifying
• if the font in a chart is smaller than the font in the body of the report, the chart needs simplifying

What chart to use

Different statistical relationships require different types of charts.

Read Government Analysis Function guidance on choosing the right chart

Do not use pie and doughnut charts for displaying more than 2 or 3 data items. The circular format makes them hard to interpret.

How to share charts with Acas

You should:

• embed all charts into your Word document
• also provide all charts as individual PNG files – these are necessary for reports that will be published in HTML

Embedding charts into Word

When embedding images into Word documents, avoid very wide or tall images. These may not work well on all devices or device orientations.

In a document, images should be:

• no more than half a page tall (ideally less)
• no wider than the width of the text on the page

Providing charts as individual PNG files

One way to provide charts as individual files is to copy the image into a PowerPoint slide and save the slide as a PNG file.

To name each file:

• use this pattern: figure-number-name-of-evaluation-or-report
• use all lower case in file names
• use dashes between words (no spaces or underscores)

Formatting charts

Use these guidelines alongside this template document:

Common chart types and diagrams formatted in Acas style (XLTX, 80KB)

Data

You should:

• aim for a maximum of 4 data categories where possible
• order data by size, from largest to smallest – unless another order is more appropriate, for example date order

Colour

Follow these guidelines:

• do not use colour alone to communicate meaning – add labels or a clear legend
• use the Government Analysis Function colour palette for charts
• do not reorder the colours in the Government Analysis Function colour palette – they've been ordered to ensure an accessible contrast ratio, and reordering may mean the contrast is no longer accessible
• use white for data labels on dark blue, dark pink and dark grey
• use black for data labels on turquoise, orange and light purple

Data labels

You should:

• add data labels either in the centre or outside the end of the data section
• make data labels bold to increase contrast
• amend the label colour if needed (white on dark colours, black on lighter colours)
• if data labels are too 'squished' or overlap, move them outside the data section – but keep them aligned with the appropriate data section
• for line charts, label the lines instead of using a legend
• for pie charts, include the series name in the data label instead of using a legend
• follow our guidance on writing numbers – this applies to charts as well

Formatting

Follow these guidelines:

• remove the gridlines in charts
• do not include a chart header in your image – this will sit outside of your image, in the body of the report
• do not outline the chart (for example, with a border), or the sections in the chart (for example, with white borders)

Legends

For charts using only one colour, do not include a legend.

Where charts use more than one colour:

• always supply a legend
• orient and order it to match the data in the chart – it's helpful to add a note below the chart explaining this

Text in images

You should:

• keep text in images limited – do not try to cram too much information in
• only include text that needs to be in the chart – such as data or axes labels
• include additional context in the body of the report – for example number of respondents, date, source
• use Century Gothic, size 12, black (unless another colour is needed for contrast, such as in data labels)
• align all text horizontally, never vertically

Axes

You should:

• remove unnecessary axes
• add axes labels if needed – these should always be oriented horizontally, not vertically
• start all numerical axes at 0

Writing about charts

Everything in an image also needs to be presented elsewhere in your report. This is so anyone who cannot see the image can access the same information.

Present the information in text as well

All images should include the following:

• key messages in the text before the image – include the base number here if relevant, and the figure number, for example: 'Of the 1,500 people who participated in the survey, the majority (80%) said they found Acas helpful (figure 3.2)'
• a figure caption
• alternative text that briefly describes the image – see the section on writing descriptive alt text
• a data table below the image giving all the data in the image – use our guidance on tables

Write a figure caption

Write a concise statistical figure caption for each image. Use sentence case.

Use this format: 'Figure [number]: [name of the figure]'

Do not add descriptive subtitles such as 'The number of survey responses increased from month to month'. Include this type of information in the body of the report.

Format captions using the style 'caption'. This is built into the Acas report template.

Write descriptive alt text

Alt text – short for alternative text – is a short description of an image. If someone cannot see an image, the alt text describes what's in it.

Write alt text for every image in your report. Put these in a comment attached to the chart title, with 'Alt text' at the start of the comment.

To write good alt text for website images:

• keep it short – ideally 1 or 2 sentences
• only communicate what someone would get from viewing the image
• give a summary of the point the image is making
• direct readers to the data table or expanded description – for example, 'Full data is in the following table' or 'Full description is in the previous text'
• add anything more complicated in body text for everyone to read

Example 1 – alt text for simple chart

• 'Pie chart showing that 87% of respondents were employees and 13% employers.'
• Instead of: 'Chart showing the number of respondents who were employees and employers' – this does not describe what someone would get from viewing the image

Example 2 – alt text for more detailed chart

• 'Bar chart showing that senior managers and immediate line managers were the most common people who users passed on Acas information to. As outlined in the surrounding text.'
• Instead of: 'Bar chart showing responses to question E2' – this does not communicate what the image is showing

Example 3 – alt text for a very complex image

• 'Flowchart showing the early resolution process, as described in the following text.' – this image is very detailed and it's not possible to describe in a couple of sentences
• Instead of: 'Flowchart showing the early resolution process.' – this does not explain that there's more information available in the body text
• If the image is too detailed to describe in the body of the report, move the description to an appendix. The alt text might then say: 'Flowchart showing the early resolution process, described in full in Appendix 1 'Description of early resolution process'.'

Logic models, flowcharts and Theory of Change diagrams

These are often complex charts that would be difficult to describe in the text or alt text. Therefore, it helps to keep them as simple as possible.

For the image itself:

• for very complex diagrams, consider whether they could be broken up into stages, with one diagram per stage
• consider moving some parts to the body of the text, like assumptions or context that don’t have to be in the chart
• our general guidance on charts still applies

For presenting the information in text:

• put a short summary of the image content in the text of the report
• use a numbered list to make the process clearer to follow in text
• if the chart is too complex to describe in text (usually defined as requiring more than a paragraph), put a full description into an annex at the end of the report, and add a link to the annex in the body of the report

Chart examples

Read the guidance on this page alongside this template document:

Common chart types and diagrams formatted in Acas style (XLTX, 80KB)

Example of what to provide for each image

This bar chart example shows:

• a written description of what the chart contains, above the chart
• a figure caption
• the chart itself
• a data table
• alt text

The style 'caption' in the Acas report template may display differently to this example. Please continue to use the built-in style in your document.

The example starts here:

As shown in Figure 3.2, 2022 delegates were most likely to work in the private sector (42%), representing a fall from 67% in 2016. In 2022 delegates were more likely to work for public or charity sector organisations than in 2016 (23% in 2022 compared with 16% in 2016). There was a clear over-representation of employees from the private and charity sectors attending Open Access training.

Note: the legend order reflects the order of the data in the chart.

Data table: Industry sector of delegates' organisation

Sector	Percentage of delegates (2016)	Percentage of delegates (2022)
Private	67%	42%
Public	16%	23%
Charity or social enterprise	14%	25%
Not applicable	3%	10%

Alt text for the image reads:

A bar chart showing the breakdown of delegates by sector in 2016 and 2022. Private sector remains the largest group but has fallen from 67% to 42%. Public and charitable organisations have increased. Full data is in the following table.

7. Tables

Only use tables to present numbers and percentages.

If a table only contains text, this should be in the body of the report.

Make your tables accessible

For all tables:

• keep them simple – if there's a lot of data, think about splitting the data between tables
• try to use more rows than columns – a tall, narrow table is easier to read than a short, wide one
• always use a header row – to help screen readers understand the table layout
• use a header column – if the first column contains headings
• do not merge or split cells
• do not have empty cells – use 'no data' or 'not applicable' instead of n/a
• if you need a 'total' row, put this in the bottom row of the table
• if the table includes percentages, the 'total' should be 'not applicable' (written out), not listed as 100%

Table captions

Include a table caption for each table. Keep the table caption as short as possible. Use sentence case.

Use this format: Table [number]: [Name of the table]

Do not use a descriptive caption (one that describes the message of the table).

Use the style 'caption-table' to format table captions. This is built into the Acas report template.

Table source or base

If the table has a source or base that's different to the rest of the report, add this directly below the table.

Use this format: Source: [Name], Base: [Name]

Make numbers easier to read

For all tables:

• right align all columns with numbers or data
• left align all columns with text only
• see the guidance on writing numbers

Example table

Table 1: Age group

Age group	Number	Percentage
16 to 24	0	0%
25 to 34	3	5%
35 to 44	8	14%
45 to 54	19	33%
55 to 64	15	26%
65 or more	0	0%
Did not answer	12	21%
Total	56	Not applicable

The style 'caption-table' in the Acas report template may display differently to this example. Please continue to use the built-in style in your document.