05.09.16
Over 80% of local authority websites fail ‘readability’ guidelines
How easy to read is your website? A new report suggests 82% of council websites could be confusing readers by failing to use plain English.
VisibleThread analysed up to 100 pages on 191 local authority websites for factors such as ‘readability’, ‘passive language’, ‘long sentences’ and ‘word complexity density’.
It found that 82% of local authority websites did not achieve the target score of 60 for readability, despite 2014 government guidelines stating that plain English is “mandatory for all of Gov.UK”.
Furthermore, only 3.6% achieved 4% use of passive language or less.
Just 1% of websites – two out of all those surveyed – met the score of a maximum of 5% of sentences containing more than 25 words. However, 13% of councils met or exceeded the target score for sentence complexity.
According to the data, the five most understandable councils in the country are South Tyneside, Eastbourne Borough, London Borough of Hackney, Durham and Huntingdonshire. The five hardest to read, in contrast, were Sevenoaks, Worcester, Chiltern, the Isles of Scilly and Malvern Hills, where 31% of sentences contained more than 25 words.
The public sector has an unfortunate reputation for a love of jargon. Sometimes, of course, public servants need to use complex or technical language. However, VisibleThread’s research is a timely reminder that, when communicating with the public we serve, we need to do so in words they can understand.
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