General style guidelines

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Sentences and paragraphs

  • It should be easy for our clients to read and understand our content, whether it’s a webpage, an email or a letter, especially at time of great stress in their lives. To help, we default to paragraphs of two sentences wherever it aids readability
  • Sentences should be short. However, make sure they’re not overused. They can make the copy feel ‘cold’. It’s better to have a longer sentence sometimes, to break up the flow and to make the copy feel warmer
  • There should be no more than one clause and one sub-clause per sentence. If there are more, sentences become hard to follow and difficult to read, especially on mobile devices

Using shorter phrases

  • Where possible, it’s always best to use a shorter phrase rather than a longer one. Some examples:

    • ‘You must’ rather than ‘it’s important to’
    • ‘We’ll review’ rather than ‘we’ll carry out a review’

Slowing down the rhythm

  • The readability of our text can be improved by slowing down the rhythm of our sentences. This means:

    • shorter sentences (without losing the warmth)
    • fewer subclauses
    • careful use of commas

Highlighting a point

  • We shouldn’t write “to note”, “please note” or “please be aware”. Where possible, we should use the page design to put across the importance of the point you’re trying to make

Brief words

  • Use a shorter, more informal word if one’s available, but take the flow of the sentence into account
  • Avoid blunt words though; “receive” is still preferable to “get”

Clichés

  • Avoid using clichés, buzzwords and overused phrases such as ‘clear next steps’, ‘move forwards’, ‘reach out’ and ‘onboarding’

More descriptive, less ambiguous

  • Be more descriptive, less ambiguous and avoid using weasel words
  • Examples of words to avoid include:

    • 'Things’ and ‘stuff’
    • The overuse of qualifiers such as ‘could, ‘might’ and ‘possibly’. Be definitive where you can, and give a good, succinct explanation of the risk if not
    • Ambiguous descriptions like ‘many people…’ or ‘some think…’

Our brand

  • Use StepChange Debt Charity in full in the first instance, and not an abbreviated version. After that we refer to ourselves as ‘StepChange’
  • Avoid the formal “We at StepChange…” or “At StepChange, we…”. Use “we…” instead
  • When referring to ‘the charity’ it’s not capitalised

Subsidiaries

  • Sub-brands should be used as follows:

    • StepChange Debt Charity Scotland
    • StepChange Financial Solutions
    • StepChange Voluntary Arrangements

  • We refer to StepChange Voluntary Arrangements and Financial Solutions in the first instance (this includes the logo). After this we refer to Voluntary Arrangements and Financial Solutions
  • If we’re talking as the main brand, refer to Voluntary Arrangements and Financial Solutions as ‘they’, ‘them’ and ‘their’
  • If talking as the subsidiary, use ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’, and not in the third person

We’re a team

  • Always use ‘we’ and ‘us’, never ‘I’ or ‘me’ as we’re talking as the charity, not an individual

Phrases we use to describe ourselves and our service

  • To help understand the flow of words and how we talk, these are approved charity key messages:

    • The UK’s leading debt charity
    • Our team of experts
    • The best option for you
    • Free advice to help you deal with your [debts/money worries]
    • We help people take back control of their money and their lives
    • We’re here to set up your solution and give ongoing advice
    • Free, impartial debt advice and managed solutions
      •

  • Where we use an amalgam of phrases we prefer to use three selling points, to help readability.
    • Free, confidential and impartial debt advice
      • rather than
    • Free, confidential, impartial debt advice and managed solutions

Budgets and budgeting terms

The charity has a mixed approach to specific words used in budgeting (and even ‘budgeting’ itself). And while we don’t think of it as technical jargon, the client may do, so use clear terms, and if in doubt, explain what it means

  1. Category terms
    We should use the three category terms:
    • Income for money received (whatever the type)
    • Spending for money paid out (whatever the type). We should not use the word ‘expenditure’ unless we’re referring to ‘an income and expenditure (I&E) form’. ‘Outgoings’ is OK, but should be used to describe spending and debts
    • Debts for money owed
  2. Types of debt
    1. Debt terms can be an area of inconsistency and jargon. ‘Priority debts’ are debts with serious consequences if you don't pay them. To be consistent:
      • Rather than ‘priority arrears’, a person is “(in) arrears on (your/their) priority debts”. ’Priority arrears’ is an internal term and shouldn’t be used externally, as it contains two uncommon concepts for the reader to understand
      • Rather than ‘priority payments’, a person “(makes) payments to (your/their) priority debts”. ’Priority payments’ is an internal term and shouldn’t be used externally, as it’s unclear whether it’s the payment of the regular amount or of the arrears
    2. Non-priorities are less serious, but we shouldn’t underplay non-payment. They can be secured against property by a court. When we refer to the likes of credit card debt and overdrafts, we sometimes use “non-priority” and “unsecured” interchangeably. To be consistent:
      • “Non-priority debts” is used for budget forms and for identifying a priority in repaying debt
      • “Unsecured debts” is used in explaining debt solutions and applicable debts included, as these are more precise technical guidelines. Unsecured debts are those that are nor secured on assets, as opposed to mortgages and hire purchase items
  3. Countable and uncountable nouns – “debt”
    • We use ‘debt’ and ‘debts’ interchangeably (“he has debt” and “he has debts”). We should always say “he’s in debt” (he owes money) or “he has debts” (he owes money to several creditors)
    • We should not use the term ‘problem debt’ or ‘problem debts’ with a consumer audience; that’s more of a societal issue. We always refer to “(he has a) debt problem” and “(they have) debt problems” with a consumer audience
  4. Describing jargon
    • Surplus: The money left over after the spending and arrears repayments on priority debts are taken from your income
    • Assets: If required, style it as “assets (items of value)” at its first mention
    • Arrears: If required, style it as “…arrears (missed payments, plus any additional charges)”
    • Utilities: Provide examples to help the reader understand the word. An example would be “…utility bills, such as your gas, electricity or water”
    • Wages/salary: Wages are paid on hours worked, whereas a salary is paid based on a monthly basis. We use ‘wages’ unless we’re talking about roles that attract a salary
  5. Solutions and options
    • At the end of debt advice, the client chooses/selects their preferred option of those available (perhaps what we’ve recommended, perhaps not), whereas we offer a recommended solution. This is what we believe to be the answer is to the problem they have (in other words, “to deal with your debts”) A solution is also a product or service designed to meet the client’s need. An option, chosen by the client, isn’t necessarily designed to meet their need.

Types of debt

  • Guarantor loans and debts: We should use ‘guarantor’ where talking about that type of loan, and also when the client is a guarantor to somebody else’s debt. Where the client has a guarantor loan, we ask if they have someone who’s guaranteed the debt
  • Hire purchase used to be written in capital case, but nowadays it’s widely written in lower case
  • We write ‘TV licence’ with a lower-case l, unless you’re talking about TV Licensing, the body that oversees the TV licence
  • VAT is capitalised and doesn’t contain full stops between the letters
  • National Insurance is capitalised

Benefits and allowances

  • Names of government benefits and allowances are capital case, followed by the initials, where used. For example:

    • Jobseeker’s Allowance [note: Jobseeker’s is one word, even though the initials are ‘(JSA)’]. There are three types of this allowance:

      • Income-based
      • Contribution-based
      • 'New style’ [include the quote marks]

      They should be written as ‘Jobseeker’s Allowance (income-based)’ and so on.

    • Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
    • Working Tax Credit
    • Child Benefit
    • Universal Credit (UC)

  • ‘Child maintenance’ is not a benefit, and is written in lower case, unless you’re talking about the Child Maintenance Service. Where possible, talk about “child maintenance (also called child support)”
  • ‘Allowances’ and ‘benefits’ are different. Don’t use either generically, unless it’s clear that you’re referring to one

Debt solutions

  • Debt solutions are written in lower case (for example “debt management plan”) except where it refers to a formal scheme (such as “a debt payment programme (DPP) under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS)”). If the debt solution is at the start of a sentence (for example “Debt management plans (DMPs) are…”) then the first letter of the solution is capitalised
  • Before a solution has been activated/approved for a client we should refer to “a [debt solution]” or “the [debt solution]” not “your [debt solution]”. We do this because we can’t guarantee it’s a suitable solution until the client has had debt advice, or, in the cases of formal solutions, debt advice and a secondary fact-find.
  • Once the client is likely to have a solution in place (for example when they visit the ‘Clients’ section of the website or read the DMP newsletter) then we use “your [debt solution]”.

Fees

  • Where a solution has a fee, we need a definitive statement on the fee. Don’t forget to highlight, where appropriate:

    • Fees for managing the solution
    • Fees and creditors
    • Industry fees

Explaining debt terms

  • It’s important in client communications to explain terms that we must use. This is particularly true in long documents such as personal action plans. Here there may be a need to keep explaining a term. Examples:

    • ‘Creditors are those you owe money to.’
    • ‘Priority debts are those that can have serious consequences if you fall into arrears.’

Re-using debt solution terms

  • Where we’re referring to a specified solution (such as a DMP or TPP) we should continue to use solution names rather than generic terms like ‘your plan’ or ‘your solution’.

Avoiding jargon

  • The language around debt and the services we provide is full of terms that we take for granted, but that clients may struggle to understand. It’s important that we put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and avoid jargon. Some examples:

    • ‘Amount you must pay back’ rather than ‘repayment figure’
    • ‘Stop adding interest’ rather than ‘freeze interest’

Persistent Debt

  • When we talk about persistent debt, we are communicating to a different audience, so we need to flex our tone of voice accordingly.
  • 'Persistent debt' is jargon itself, so when we use the phrase we need to place it in terms that the client understands:

    • We say the client has a (credit card in) persistent debt, not they they’re in persistent debt
    • We look to reduce the number of references to ‘persistent debt’, instead focusing on the cause – repaying the minimum amount each month over an extended period of time.
  • We should avoid referring to 'being in debt', as persistent debt clients are unlikely to think of themselves as being in debt when they first speak to us. Instead we use specific product types, for example ‘your credit card’ or ‘your account’ rather than ‘your debt’
  • Rather than offering clients ‘help with debt’ we encourage positive action when they can afford it. Examples include “You can try to repay more” or “we can help you to (reorganise/improve) your finances”.