...
- > – greater than
- < – less than
≤ equal to or less than
≥ equal to or greater than
- ~ – approximately or about
- vs – versus
- CI – confidence interval
In In public-facing guidance prefer Plain prefer Plain English: ‘over’ or ‘under’ (over 40, under 5), if it’s units, ‘more than 2 litres’ and ‘less than 3 visits’.
If used widely in scientific documents, err on the side as leaving as they are. 1) Scientists understand them 2) the symbols are are often used to save space 3) or occur frequently in one sentence or paragraph and are easier to read.
~ Always write out as either ‘approximately’ (for a scientific audience) or ‘about’ (for a popular audience).
V, vs. Spell out vs or v as ‘versus’ with brackets and no full stop (vs) on its first appearance, then use the abbreviation vs with no full stop.
Spell out confidence interval on first appearance and then the abbreviation (CI). Use CI thereafter.
CIs usually come to us with dashes indicating range. Replace these with ‘to’‘to’.
HTML Markdown for abbreviations
Use HTML markdown for all these abbreviations (and units of measurement) so that >, <, vs, g, cm, kg and so on will have explanatory hovertext.
act, act of Parliament
Lower case. Only use upper case when using the full title: Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
...
(UKHSA) Do not use 'please' in instructions.
aerobic colony counts (ACCs)
(UKHSA) cap down.
ages
Do not use hyphens in ages, so '14 year old' not 14-year-old
Unless to avoid confusion, for example, ‘a class of 15 16-year-old students took the A level course’ can be written as ‘15 students aged 16 took the A level course’.
...
Use 'and' rather than &, unless it’s a department’s logo image or a company’s name as it appears on the Companies House register.
antisocial
No hyphen.
(UKHSA) Appendix
In text, when referring to Appendix 1, 2, 3 etc, use capitals because it's a proper noun (see Appendix 3).
If more than one, cap down - appendics 3 and 4.
(Same with Chapter, Figure, Table but not section, which remains capped down.)
armed forces
Lower case.
arm’s length body
...
“Witnessed by [signature of witness].”
(UKHSA) Use numbers in round brackets for numbered citations referring to references at the end of a document (7). If more than one, include in the same bracket (7, 9, 13). If there's a range of numbered references use 'to' rather than a hyphen (14 to 16).
Britain
See 'Great Britain'.
...
Lower case in text. Upper case in titles: Spencer Tracy, Chairman, GDS.
checkbox
(UKHSA) Chapter
In text, when referring to Chapter 1, 2, 3 etc, use capitals because it's a proper noun (see Chapter 3).
If more than one, cap down - chapters 3 and 4.
(Same with Appendix, Figure, Table).
checkbox
Not .Not .check box'.
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) materials
...
You can use 'right-click' if the user needs to right-click to open up a list of options to progress through the user journey.
CO2
(UKHSA) Use capital letters and a regular 2.????
code of practice
Lower case.
Confidence interval
(UKHSA) Spell out confidence interval on first appearance and then the abbreviation (CI). Use CI thereafter.
CIs usually come to us with dashes indicating range. Replace these with ‘to’.
(UKHSA) Confidence interval
Spell out on first appearance then use CI.
Replace hyphen indicating range with 'to'.‘to’.
consultation responses
Lower case.
...
Use lower case when writing about local councils in general. Use capitals for the official name of a local council. For example ‘Reading Borough Council’, ‘Warwick District Council’ and ‘Swanage Town Council’.
Council Tax
Upper case.
countries and territories
...
Do not use the terms BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and BME (black and minority ethnic). These terms emphasise certain ethnic minority groups (Asian and black) and exclude others (mixed, other and white ethnic minority groups).
European Commission
euros, the euro
Lower case, if referring to the currency.
...
Upper case because Excel is a brand name (like PowerPoint and Word).
(UKHSA) See comprehensive guidance on how to publish accessible spreadsheets.
...
Do not use FAQs on GOV.UK. If you write content by starting with user needs, you will not need to use FAQs.
Read more about FAQs.finance and procurement
(UKHSA) Figure
In text, when referring to Figure 1, 2, 3 etc, use capitals because it's a proper noun (see Figure 3).
If more than one, cap down - figures 3 and 4.
(Same with Chapter, Figure, Table but not section, which remains capped down.)
fire and rescue service
Lower case.
...
Avoid footnotes. Wherever possible possible include footnote material in the text. Use parentheses either within the sentence or as a standalone sentence.
(UKHSA) Forward slash
Never use a forward slash.
In years year periods replace with 'to' (and spell out the years in full) so 2020/21 becomes 2020 to 2021.
...
(UKHSA) See UKHSA regions.
good hygienic practice (GHP)
(UKHSA) cap down.
government
...
All upper case.
(UKHSA) Graphs
These Style rules apply to graphs which, where possible, should use sentence case text, replace forward slash or hyphens with 'to', and so on.
...
Use UK and United Kingdom in preference to Britain and British (UK business, UK foreign policy, ambassador and high commissioner). But British embassy, not UK embassy.
Green Book
(UKHSA) Green Book or green book?Leave capped down Leave capped down in page and attachment titles., as per existing practice.
Cap up within text to avoid ambiguity ambiguity / because it’s a working title.
Group
Upper case for names of groups, directorates and organisations: Knowledge and Innovation Group.
...
Upper case because Gypsies are legally recognised as an ethnic group.
H
(UKHSA) Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
John Manos says must be kept capped up.
...
One word. You can use head if the context is clear.
(UKHSA)
...
health protection team
Lower case except in title of a specific team. Spell out on first appearance with abbreviation (HPT) in brackets, then use HPT or HPTs thereafter.
(UKHSA) health protection unit
Lower case unless it’s the title of an organisation: North East and Central London Health Protection Unit.
helpdesk
Not 'help desk'.
homepage
...
Read more about writing legal content
life cycle
Not 'lifecycle' or 'life-cycle'.
Links
Front-load your link text with the relevant terms and make them active and specific. Always link to online services first. Offer offline alternatives afterwards, when possible.
Lists
Lists should be bulleted to make them easier to read. See bullets and steps, above.
Very long lists can be written as a paragraph with a lead-in sentence if it looks better: ‘The following countries are in the EU: Spain, France, Italy…’
In an alphanumeric list:
- put entries that start with numbers before entries that start with letters
- order the numbers numerically in the correct order for the whole number
local authority
Lower case. Do not use LA.
When referring to local government, use 'local council' instead of local authority where possible. See also council.
local council
Lower case.
When referring to local government, use 'local council' instead of local authority where possible. See also council.
lunchtime
One word.
M
Maths content
Use a minus sign for negative numbers: –6
Ratios have no space either side of the colon: 5:12
One space each side of symbols: +, –, ×, ÷ and = (so: 2 + 2 = 4)
Use the minus sign for subtraction. Use the correct symbol for the multiplication sign (×), not the letter x. To do this, on your keyboard press Alt and then, on the numeric keyboard 0125.
Write out and hyphenate fractions: two-thirds, three-quarters.
(UKHSA) As a common phrase write two-fold, three-fold as words.
Write out decimal fractions as numerals. Use the same number format for a sequence: 0.75 and 0.45
Measurements
Use numerals and spell out measurements at first mention.
Do not use a space between the numeral and abbreviated measurement: 3,500kg not 3,500 kg.
(UKHSA) Is this amendable if the unit is very long, 4 characters or more...?
Abbreviating kilograms to kg is fine - you do not need to spell it out.
Use ‘grams’ (not ‘grammes’). For example: micrograms, milligrams.
If the measurement is more than one word, like kilometres per hour, then spell it out the first time it’s used with the abbreviation. From then on, abbreviate. If it’s only mentioned once, do not abbreviate.
Use Celsius for temperature: 37°C
Measurements gap
(UKHSA) GDS style guide states that units should be flush up against numbers, 2cm.
...
(UKHSA) Letters
Letters come in several formats:
- Letters coming from UKHSA use the UKHSA letter template.
- Letters designed to adapted by GPs, HPTs etc and printed off, do not require the UKHSA template.
Letters included as appendices in guidance should be taken out and made into stand-alone attachments - easier for users,
Links in letters generally be left naked, but you can use the shortened form i.e. start with gov.uk
life cycle
Not 'lifecycle' or 'life-cycle'.
Links
Front-load your link text with the relevant terms and make them active and specific. Always link to online services first. Offer offline alternatives afterwards, when possible.
(UKHSA) Link text should be the full title of the target page. Further guidance is available at [TITLE].Don’t say ‘on GOV.UK’.
Some links come to us including GOV.UK or www.gov.uk at the end of the link text. Delete this to avoid clutter and because it is assumed our links should be to GOV.UK pages.
Given a choice, err on the side of keeping links to GOV.UK pages i.e. err away from linking to external sites.
Links: password protected or to foreign language sites
Links to Facebook or any other site which requires a login, add '(login required)' in the link text.
Link to a page in a foreign language, indicate in parentheses (in French) in the link text.
For example, ‘You can find information and guidance regarding the current outbreak of COVID-19 in France on the French Government’s COVID-19 pages (in French)’.
Users will expect a linked page to be in the same language as the origin page. It’s good practice to prepare users for a language change in their journey. It’s also important for accessibility so that screen readers can correctly pronounce content on the origin and destination page.
Lists
Lists should be bulleted to make them easier to read. See bullets and steps, above.
Very long lists can be written as a paragraph with a lead-in sentence if it looks better: ‘The following countries are in the EU: Spain, France, Italy…’
In an alphanumeric list:
- put entries that start with numbers before entries that start with letters
- order the numbers numerically in the correct order for the whole number
local authority
Lower case. Do not use LA.
When referring to local government, use 'local council' instead of local authority where possible. See also council.
local council
Lower case.
When referring to local government, use 'local council' instead of local authority where possible. See also council.
lunchtime
One word.
M
Maths content
Use a minus sign for negative numbers: –6
Ratios have no space either side of the colon: 5:12
One space each side of symbols: +, –, ×, ÷ and = (so: 2 + 2 = 4)
Use the minus sign for subtraction. Use the correct symbol for the multiplication sign (×), not the letter x. To do this, on your keyboard press Alt and then, on the numeric keyboard 0125.
Write out and hyphenate fractions: two-thirds, three-quarters.
(UKHSA) As a common phrase write two-fold, three-fold as words.
Write out decimal fractions as numerals. Use the same number format for a sequence: 0.75 and 0.45
Measurements
Use numerals and spell out measurements at first mention.
Do not use a space between the numeral and abbreviated measurement: 3,500kg not 3,500 kg.
(UKHSA) Is this amendable if the unit is very long, 4 characters or more...?
Abbreviating kilograms to kg is fine - you do not need to spell it out.
Use ‘grams’ (not ‘grammes’). For example: micrograms, milligrams.
If the measurement is more than one word, like kilometres per hour, then spell it out the first time it’s used with the abbreviation. From then on, abbreviate. If it’s only mentioned once, do not abbreviate.
Use Celsius for temperature: 37°C
Measurements gap
(UKHSA) GDS style guide states that units should be flush up against numbers, 2cm.
But when units are long - over 4 characters - you can add a space to make it easier to read: 20,000cfu/ml
But these are exceptions. Shorter units remain as per GDS such as 2g, 3cm, 5kg.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
(UKHSA) Small p.
metadata
Not 'meta data'.
Midlands
Upper case.
military
Lower case.
Millions
Always use million in money (and billion): £138 million.
Use millions in phrases: millions of people.
But do not use £0.xx million for amounts less than £1 million.
Do not abbreviate million to m.
money
Use the £ symbol: £75
Do not use decimals unless pence are included: £75.50 but not £75.00
Do not use ‘£0.xx million’ for amounts less than £1 million.
Write out pence in full: calls will cost 4 pence per minute from a landline.
Currencies are lower case.
Months
See 'Dates'.
multi-ethnic
Hyphenated.
multi-year funding
Hyphenated.
N
N/A
Separate with a slash. Only use in tables.
(UKHSA) Should it be lower case?
the north, the north of England
Lower case.
north-east, north-west
Lower case, hyphenated.
(UKHSA) Notes
Do not use superscript symbols such as *, dagger, section, yen, dollar and so on.
Use [note 1] [note 2] format with the notes given under the table or graph.
Always in square brackets - https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/releasing-statistics-in-spreadsheets/#section-6
Numbers
Use ‘one’ unless you’re talking about a step, a point in a list or another situation where using the numeral makes more sense: ‘in point 1 of the design instructions’.
Write all other numbers in numerals (including 2 to 9) except where it’s part of a common expression like ‘one or two of them’ where numerals would look strange.
If a number starts a sentence, write it out in full (Thirty-four, for example) except where it starts a title or subheading.
For numerals over 999 - insert a comma for clarity: 9,000
Spell out common fractions like one-half.
Use a % sign for percentages: 50%
Use a 0 where there’s no digit before the decimal point.
Use ‘500 to 900’ and not ‘500-900’ (except in tables).
Use MB for anything over 1MB: 4MB not 4096KB.
Use KB for anything under 1MB: 569KB not 0.55MB.
Keep it as accurate as possible and up to 2 decimal places: 4.03MB.
Addresses: use ‘to’ in address ranges: 49 to 53 Cherry Street.
Number ranges
(UKHSA) Dashes indicating range should be written out as ‘to’.
No need to repeat the unit if it’s common terms like days, hours, minutes (3 to 4 days, 5 to 10 hours).
If it’s scientific units, consider repeating the unit name: 1°C to 5°C. But use with discretion i.e.don’t clutter up sentences unnecessarily.
Ordinal numbers
Spell out first to ninth. After that use 10th, 11th and so on.
In tables, use numerals throughout.
Numbered list
- Use numbers followed by a full stop, 1.
- Make sure there is one space after the full stop.
- Leave an empty line before the numbers start, and one afterwards.
- Sub-items need an indent of 2 spaces.
(UKHSA) If the numbers aren't displaying in Markdown put a backslash after them – 1\., 2\. and so on
O
online
One word.
or
Do not use slashes instead of 'or'. For example, 'Do this 3/4 times'.
(UKHSA) Sometimes guidance text lists a set of steps or bullets applying to a situation and then simply has 'or:' and another set of steps or bullets. In this case, to avoid ambiguity and make clearer, consider amplifying the introductory sentence to flag this, something like 'There are two options for treatment'. And as to the small 'or' it can be easy to miss this so expand it to something like 'Or alternatively:'
Organisations
Use the singular verb form when referring to organisations by name. Use ‘they’ when replacing an organisation name with a pronoun.
For example: ‘HMPO is the sole issuer of UK passports. They will send your new passport within 3 weeks’
The definite article can be used when referring to the organisation by its full name, but should not be used with the organisation’s acronym: ‘You should contact the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency if…’ but ‘You should contact DVSA if…’
You should only use ‘we’ if it’s clear which organisation you’re referring to.
Read more about when to use ‘we’ in content.
Use local council, instead of local authority, where possible. See also council.
(UKHSA) Refer to 'the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)' on first mention, then UKHSA (without 'the') thereafter.
P
Parliament
Upper case.
Upper case. No need to explain the acronym.
Per cent
Use per cent not percent. Percentage is one word. Always use % with a number.
Planet Earth
Upper case.
(UKHSA) Please
Do not use 'please' in instructions.
police
Lower case, even when referring to ‘the police’.
policy statement
Lower case.
PowerPoint
Upper case because PowerPoint is a brand name.
public health
Lower case.
Q
Quotes and speech marks
In long passages of speech, open quotes for every new paragraph, but close quotes only at the end of the final paragraph.
Single quotes
Use single quotes:
- in headlines
- for unusual terms - only for the first mention
- when referring to words
- when referring to publications
- when referring to notifications such as emails or alerts
For example: Download the publication ‘Understanding Capital Gains Tax’ (PDF, 360KB).
Double quotes
Use double quotes in body text for direct quotations.
Block quotes
Use the block quote Markdown for quotes longer than a few sentences.
R
(UKHSA) Reception
Lower case, like year 1, year 2.
References
References should be easy to understand by anyone, not just specialists.
They should follow the style guide. When writing a reference:
- do not use italics
- use single quote marks around titles
- write out abbreviations in full: page not p, Nutrition Journal not Nutr J.
- use plain English, for example use ‘and others’ not ‘et al’
- do not use full stops after initials or at the end of the reference
If the reference is available online, make the title a link and include the date you accessed the online version:
Corallo AN and others. ‘A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD countries’ Health Policy 2014: volume 114, pages 5-14 (viewed on 18 November 2014)
(UKHSA) References
Use 'to' rather than a hyphen in the page range. We number references and use numbered citations in round brackets in the main text to refer to them.
If many text-format citations are written out in full (Smith and Jones, 2012) and cluttering up the text, convert them to a numbered reference list at the end of the doc and replace the offending citations with numbers in round brackets.
Always use ‘and others’ to replace ‘et al’,i.e not ‘and colleagues’.
doi numbers - delete.
Cities of publication at end of references - delete.
When a paper is included in a volume of essays. put a full stop after the paper title, then In: (capital I and a colon) then the title of the book with single speech marks:
Michie S, Atkins L and West R (2014). ‘The behaviour change wheel: a guide to designing interventions’.In: ‘Antibiotics’ (second edition) Smith and Jones (editors)
Numbers of editions should be spelt out so second edition instead of 2nd edition. To declutter and cap down and avoid ambiguity, put this in brackets, as in the example above.
Year of publication: if a standard reference put the year of publication after the journal name towards the end. However, sometimes you get a set of references by the same author or organisation where the date is important for distinguishing between them:
WHO (2012)
WHO (2013)
WHO (2014)
Or which distinguishes between different papers published in the same year:
Smith and Jones (2012a)
Smith and Jones (2012b)
In these cases, leave the year at the start (immediately after the authors) and change the position of all the other years to immediately after the authors in order to be consistent.
References: Article number
E numbers in a reference indicate article number and are written thus: volume 23, issue 15, article e0179572
...
But these are exceptions. Shorter units remain as per GDS such as 2g, 3cm, 5kg.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
(UKHSA) Small p.
metadata
Not 'meta data'.
Midlands
Upper case.
military
Lower case.
Millions
Always use million in money (and billion): £138 million.
Use millions in phrases: millions of people.
But do not use £0.xx million for amounts less than £1 million.
Do not abbreviate million to m.
money
Use the £ symbol: £75
Do not use decimals unless pence are included: £75.50 but not £75.00
Do not use ‘£0.xx million’ for amounts less than £1 million.
Write out pence in full: calls will cost 4 pence per minute from a landline.
Currencies are lower case.
Months
See 'Dates'.
multi-ethnic
Hyphenated.
multi-year funding
Hyphenated.
N
N/A
Separate with a slash. Only use in tables.
(UKHSA) Should it be lower case?
the north, the north of England
Lower case.
north-east, north-west
Lower case, hyphenated.
Numbers
Use ‘one’ unless you’re talking about a step, a point in a list or another situation where using the numeral makes more sense: ‘in point 1 of the design instructions’.
Write all other numbers in numerals (including 2 to 9) except where it’s part of a common expression like ‘one or two of them’ where numerals would look strange.
If a number starts a sentence, write it out in full (Thirty-four, for example) except where it starts a title or subheading.
For numerals over 999 - insert a comma for clarity: 9,000
Spell out common fractions like one-half.
Use a % sign for percentages: 50%
Use a 0 where there’s no digit before the decimal point.
Use ‘500 to 900’ and not ‘500-900’ (except in tables).
Use MB for anything over 1MB: 4MB not 4096KB.
Use KB for anything under 1MB: 569KB not 0.55MB.
Keep it as accurate as possible and up to 2 decimal places: 4.03MB.
Addresses: use ‘to’ in address ranges: 49 to 53 Cherry Street.
Number ranges
(UKHSA) Dashes indicating range should be written out as ‘to’.
No need to repeat the unit if it’s common terms like days, hours, minutes (3 to 4 days, 5 to 10 hours).
...
Ordinal numbers
Spell out first to ninth. After that use 10th, 11th and so on.
In tables, use numerals throughout.
Numbered list
- Use numbers followed by a full stop, 1.
- Make sure there is one space after the full stop.
- Leave an empty line before the numbers start, and one afterwards.
- Sub-items need an indent of 2 spaces.
(UKHSA) If the numbers aren't displaying in Markdown put a backslash after them – 1\., 2\. and so on
O
online
One word.
or
Do not use slashes instead of 'or'. For example, 'Do this 3/4 times'.
(UKHSA) Sometimes guidance text lists a set of steps or bullets applying to a situation and then simply has 'or:' and another set of steps or bullets. In this case, to avoid ambiguity and make clearer, consider amplifying the introductory sentence to flag this, something like 'There are two options for treatment'. And as to the small 'or' it can be easy to miss this so expand it to something like 'Or alternatively:'
Organisations
Use the singular verb form when referring to organisations by name. Use ‘they’ when replacing an organisation name with a pronoun.
For example: ‘HMPO is the sole issuer of UK passports. They will send your new passport within 3 weeks’
The definite article can be used when referring to the organisation by its full name, but should not be used with the organisation’s acronym: ‘You should contact the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency if…’ but ‘You should contact DVSA if…’
You should only use ‘we’ if it’s clear which organisation you’re referring to.
Read more about when to use ‘we’ in content.
Use local council, instead of local authority, where possible. See also council.
(UKHSA) Refer to 'the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)' on first mention, then UKHSA (without 'the') thereafter.
P
Parliament
Upper case.
Upper case. No need to explain the acronym.
Per cent
Use per cent not percent. Percentage is one word. Always use % with a number.
Planet Earth
Upper case.
(UKHSA) Please
Do not use 'please' in instructions.
police
Lower case, even when referring to ‘the police’.
policy statement
Lower case.
PowerPoint
Upper case because PowerPoint is a brand name.
public health
Lower case.
Q
Quotes and speech marks
In long passages of speech, open quotes for every new paragraph, but close quotes only at the end of the final paragraph.
Single quotes
Use single quotes:
- in headlines
- for unusual terms - only for the first mention
- when referring to words
- when referring to publications
- when referring to notifications such as emails or alerts
For example: Download the publication ‘Understanding Capital Gains Tax’ (PDF, 360KB).
Double quotes
Use double quotes in body text for direct quotations.
Block quotes
Use the block quote Markdown for quotes longer than a few sentences.
R
References
References should be easy to understand by anyone, not just specialists.
They should follow the style guide. When writing a reference:
- do not use italics
- use single quote marks around titles
- write out abbreviations in full: page not p, Nutrition Journal not Nutr J.
- use plain English, for example use ‘and others’ not ‘et al’
- do not use full stops after initials or at the end of the reference
If the reference is available online, make the title a link and include the date you accessed the online version:
Corallo AN and others. ‘A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD countries’ Health Policy 2014: volume 114, pages 5-14 (viewed on 18 November 2014)
(UKHSA) Use 'to' rather than a hyphen in the page range. We number references and use numbered citations in round brackets in the main text to refer to them.
If many text-format citations are written out in full (Smith and Jones, 2012) and cluttering up the text, convert them to a numbered reference list at the end of the doc and replace the offending citations with numbers in round brackets.
...
doi numbers - delete.
Cities of publication at end of references - delete.
When a paper is included in a volume of essays. put a full stop after the paper title, then In: (capital I and a colon) then the title of the book with single speech marks:
...
Numbers of editions should be spelt out so second edition instead of 2nd edition. To declutter and cap down and avoid ambiguity, put this in brackets, as in the example above.
Year of publication: if a standard reference put the year of publication after the journal name towards the end. However, sometimes you get a set of references by the same author or organisation where the date is important for distinguishing between them:
WHO (2012)
WHO (2013)
WHO (2014)
Or which distinguishes between different papers published in the same year:
Smith and Jones (2012a)
Smith and Jones (2012b)
In these cases, leave the year at the start (immediately after the authors) and change the position of all the other years to immediately after the authors in order to be consistent.
Regulations
(UKHSA) Delete ‘No.’ so that ‘EU Regulation No. 2073/2005’ becomes ‘EU Regulation 2073/2005’.
...
- be 160 characters or less
- end with a full stop
- not repeat the title or body text
- be clear and specific
T
(UKHSA) Tables
Layout as per Gateway Checklist.
Keys , position of (- put important information above table)necessary to make sense of the table, above it.
Footnotes - symbols. Do not use superscript symbols such as asterisk, dagger and so on .Use the format note [note 1], [note 2] and put these under 'Notes' in heading 4.
(UKHSA) Table
In text, when referring to Table 1, 2, 3 etc, use capitals because it's a proper noun (see Table 3).
If more than one, cap down - tables 3 and 4.
(Same with Chapter, Appendix, Figure but not section, which remains capped down).
team
Lower case: youth offending team, Behavioural Insights team.
...
Y
year 1, year 2
Lower case.
So reception.
Writing about ethnicity
TBC