How to set up a new government campaign online

How to set up a new government campaign online.

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A communications campaign is a planned sequence of communications and interactions that uses a compelling narrative over time to deliver a defined and measurable outcome. If appropriate for your campaign objectives, you can apply for a campaigns site on the GOV.UK Campaigns platform.

Overall government campaign site requirements

All government campaign sites must be:

  • time-limited: designed to support a planned programme of comms activity, with a specific end date (usually within 2 years)
  • focused on some aspect of attitude, perception or behaviour change, rather than solely on public information provision
  • focused on one of the priority themes from the current year’s Government Communication Plan.
  • co-branded: the site should carry a distinct brand, different to that of the parent organisation, but also marked as official HM government information
  • delivered in line with the Government Communication Service (GCS) OASIS campaigns planning approach
  • evaluated in line with the GCS evaluation framework
  • may be developed with a short Marketing URL which redirects to the campaign (for example gov.uk/readytopass)

Before applying for a campaign site

Before requesting a campaign site:

  • make sure you’re confident you have an evidence-based strategy, based on audience insights, for getting your target audiences to engage with it. This should be evidenced in your campaign OASIS plan. For this reason, campaign plans are often managed and overseen by a department’s Campaigns Team. 
  • consider that an increasing number of the public now get their news and information from social media and other digital channels.
  • ensure you’ve explored all other options with your department’s Head of Digital Communications. 
  • If you’re an ALB, contact your sponsor department.

You don’t need a site on the campaign platform for:

  • generic news announcements, statutory guidance or policy updates – this should be on GOV.UK
  • duplicating information already on GOV.UK
  • essential information about government services – this should be on GOV.UK.

Websites that don’t meet Campaigns criteria or that host a transactional element (for example where people use a government service) need to discuss alternatives with GDS, such as the exemptions route.

For further information about campaign website applications and the process, particularly in the planning, contact onlinecampaigns@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

The GOV.UK campaign platform

If you can demonstrate the need, and are approved for a government campaign, we will give you access to the secure GOV.UK Campaign platform. This allows you to create a site with:

Find out how to develop your campaign site using our government campaign user guide.

If your proposed site doesn’t meet the criteria of a campaign, or the campaign platform does not meet your requirements, you will instead need to gain approval from GDS via their Exemption route.

Application process: Application form and OASIS

  • Applications must be sent through the GOV.UK Publisher (note: only those with login rights can submit – this will be your department’s GOV.UK Publisher point/s of contact). See end of this page for the link to the application form.
  • Submit an OASIS campaign plan (Objective, Audience insight, Strategy, Implementation, Scoring/evaluation), along with your application form. 
  • It is mandatory that the following GCS OASIS template is used for all campaign website applications – no alternative templates are accepted. Guide to campaign planning: OASIS (look for Resources: OASIS template)
  • The OASIS plan should clearly show how the campaign website integrates with the wider campaign. We’d advise you map out your website design/content in a sketch, to visualise what you’re trying to achieve. GCS may also request a basic sketch plan.

Planning and timings

  • Please ensure you have allowed at least 6 weeks from the time you submit your initial application to your site being built if approved. 
  • If you are planning to build a multi-page site, you will need to factor in more lead-in time, because it will have more pages and more complexity to manage. How much time is required will depend on the exact design of your website and, importantly, your team’s capacity and capabilities. 
  • If your wider campaign also needs GCS Professional Assurance (PASS) approval, follow the Professional Assurance Guidance.

Application review

Applications are reviewed by a panel of reviewers from GCS who will come back to departments with comments and queries. If your site is approved for the build, there will be terms and conditions attached which must be followed.

Final campaign website pre-live review

Once your site is completed, your site will need to have a pre-live review by members of GCS. This is mainly to identify errors or items typically missing before it can be made live, but it may also include suggestions such as accessibility of content, UX, or page hierarchy.

You need to factor in a minimum of 5 working days for a final GCS review, depending on the final site presented (a more complex multi-page site will take longer to review and change). Your campaign will only be approved to go live by GCS once the changes are completed.

Testing the site once live: you should factor in a minimum of an additional 1 day to test the site is working properly, in a quiet period before you start driving traffic to the site – and we would advise testing the site over several days, if you are using paid advertising.

Finally, GCS require an email in confirmation from your Head of Digital Communications (or equivalent) that the final version has been viewed and quality assessed by them.

6 month website performance review

6 months after your site goes live you will be required to provide performance data for the site based on your digital Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Please provide the relevant contact details for the team responsible for reporting in your application form.

Following the 6 month review, we may suggest alternative options such as refreshing content on your site or considering the closure of the campaign site if it is no longer needed.

An accessible campaign website is one that works for all people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight or cognitive ability.

From 2019, the law changed to ensure accessibility standards for public sector websites  are met.

Further detailed guidance on creating Accessible campaign website content.

The templates on the new GOV.UK campaign platform are fully accessible. However, as campaign managers, you will be responsible for ensuring that the content is fully accessible. Some basic principles are:

a. Images

Alternative text, or “alt text”, is read out by screen readers for those with sight impairments. Avoid images that contain text.

Alt text must:

  • tell people what information the image provides
  • describe the content and function of the image
  • be specific, meaningful and concise

Use normal punctuation, like commas and full stops, so the text is easy to read and understand.

In Alt text, you must not:

  • include the name of the photographer or person who created the image
  • start with ‘Image of’, ‘Graphic of’ or ‘Photo of’
  • repeat information from the page
  • include extra information not on the page

Further information on alt text best practice.

b. Links

Your links must be formatted in a way that follows the GOV.UK content design guidelines.

c. Headings

All headings must be formatted using the ‘heading’ formatting in the editor. They can be formatted as either ‘heading 2’ (heading) or ‘heading 3’ (subheading).

‘Bold’ should not be used.

d. Videos must be subtitled

This is a must for website accessibility to assist those with hearing impairments, whether it’s done on YouTube’s ‘Closed Caption’ service or creating “burnt in” captions using your own captioning software.

Find out more about video subtitling for accessibility.

e. Colour contrast

Some users with visual impairments won’t be able to interact with your campaign if the colour contrast isn’t set properly. Ensure there is a clear distinction between font and background colours at all times, so that text is clearly legible.

Use this tool to check colour contrast on your website.

Managing tracking cookies on the campaign platform (and GDPR)

You need to think about your plan for Cookies early in your website build process because you need to understand how much work and the type of work (and resourcing) is required by your team.

There have been recent changes to how cookies are handled on the campaign platform, which you will notice on the “Cookies & Analytics” tab in WordPress. There are two methods for setting up website analytics and marketing tracking on your campaign site.

These are :

  1. (Recommended) Using platform’s built-in tracking & cookie consent banner facility
  2. (Advanced) Using Google Tag Manager & 3rd party cookie consent banner

You can read more about the differences on GOV.UK.

Depending on the method you choose, there will be different actions you need to take. For both, you should be aware of the four important components of compliance with the GDPR and PECR regulations.

These are:

  1. Cookie Consent Banner
  2. Cookie Settings functionality
  3. Cookie Notice
  4. Privacy Notice

Below is what is required when using each option.

Method 1: (Recommended) Using platform’s built-in tracking facility

Using the (Recommended) built-in tracking method, you can set up tracking for the most common platforms. When you choose this method, you will see boxes where you can add your pixel IDs. You can add pixel IDs for as many of the platforms listed below. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the only compulsory ID. 

  • GA4 (compulsory)
  • Facebook (optional)
  • LinkedIn (optional)
  • Snap (optional)
  • X – formerly Twitter (optional)
  • TikTok (optional)

All campaign sites using the (Recommended) built-in tracking method will get:

  • An automatically populated  GOV.UK Cookie Consent Banner and Cookie Settings Page
  • An automatically populated Privacy Policy Notice (once key details are entered)
  • An automatically populated Cookie Notice

As the data controller, you (campaigns teams) are required to review these and decide whether they are fit for your purposes.

Method 2: (Advanced) Using Google Tag Manager

If you’d like more flexibility, or marketing cookies that are not offered in the Recommended option (e.g Google Floodlight, Reddit etc), you need to use Google Tag Manager.

If you choose Advanced, you set up all tracking yourself using Google Tag Manager. First  you will see a box where you must add your Google Tag Manager ID. You then take your pixel IDs (eg Google Floodlight and/or others) and set these up as “tags” within your Google Tag Manager container. 

In Advanced, unlike Recommended, the below features are not automated, so you will need to make sure your campaign site has a:

  1. Cookie Consent Banner, using a 3rd party tool – Cookiebot is recommended (you are not allowed to use the built-in cookie consent banner facility)
  2. Cookie Settings functionality
  3. Cookie Notice page
  4. Privacy Notice page (a boiler plate will be provided)

Here is more detailed guidance about these features: 

  • A Cookie Settings page: Teams who choose to set up tracking using Google Tag Manager (Advanced) will need to have somewhere on the website which allows visitors to update the choices they originally made in the cookie consent banner. Read more about Cookie Settings pages . Note: If you use Cookiebot, a Cookie Settings facility will be automatically produced within the Cookie Notice page that is generated by Cookiebot. This is labelled ‘change your consent’.
  • A Privacy Notice page: Teams will need to publish a compliant privacy policy notice page. In Advanced, you’ll be provided with a boilerplate Privacy Notice which you can manage by manually editing. Privacy Notice for your campaign site 

Discuss your needs with your organisation’s analytics administrator and data protection team. They will advise you on the best method and approach for your campaign site. If you are working with a marketing agency, we recommend utilising their expertise when implementing.

Analytics and tracking features


Built-in Tracking (Recommended)
Google Tag Manager (Advanced)
Ease of Setup✓
Fully customisable✓
Supports GA4 website analytics✓✓
Supports Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Snap, TikTok and tracking✓✓
Supports Google Floodlight✓

Privacy and compliance features

Built-in Tracking (Recommended)Google Tag Manager (Advanced)

Auto-generated GOV.UK cookie consent banner		✓
Auto-generated GOV.UK Cookie Notice and Cookie Setting pages✓
Auto-generated GOV.UK Privacy Policy page✓

More information

Further reading: ICO cookie compliance, PECR and GDPR.

Apply for a GOV.UK Campaign Platform site: How to get your campaign online (on GOV.UK)

Important note for Campaign technical support (GDS): All technical support queries should be emailed in the first instance to govuk.campaigns@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk to ensure the query is picked up in a timely manner. Queries to the support email address are managed by GDS and GOV.UK.

Technical queries might include user permissions for your campaign site and/or setting up redirected URLs to your site.

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