This guidance is for writing numbers and dates in written text, as well as images and tables.
Use these rules alongside guidance on:
Writing about numbers
You should:
- usually write numbers in digits – including 1 to 9 and 0
- write numbers as words if it would look odd to use digits – for example, 'one or two of them'
- write very large numbers (1 million or more) in words – 6 million not 6,000,000
- insert a comma for clarity for numbers over 999 – for example 9,000
- 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'
- remove decimals where they're not needed and use round numbers – £10 is easier to read than £10.00 but £10.36 is okay if it needs to be an exact number (same with percentages – use 63% instead of 62.98%, unless the decimal points are needed)
Writing about dates
You should use:
- just digits for dates – for example, 2 February 2026 and not 2nd February 2026
- lower case for seasons, upper case for months – for example, spring, January
- shortened months if including in tables and space is limited – for example Jan and Feb
- write year ranges as '2024 to 2025' – not '2024-2025' or '2024/2025'
- the month ranges and not quarters – for example January to March and not Q4
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