Editorial policy

What the desk publishes

The Shortlist Desk publishes notes on hiring in the United Kingdom. Every note answers one question and belongs to one of four sections. The desk writes for the reader who has to make a decision: whether to apply, what to say in an interview, what a clause means, whether a move is worth it. Notes are written in British English and use the terms a reader meets at work and in official guidance.

Sources

Each note is built from named, public sources: legislation and statutory guidance on GOV.UK, Acas codes and advice, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Information Commissioner's Office, HM Revenue and Customs, the Health and Safety Executive, the Office for National Statistics, and the sector bodies, unions and professional institutes that publish their own standards. The sources read for a note are listed at the foot of that note, with the address where the desk read them. Figures are attributed. Where a source is silent, the note says so rather than filling the gap.

Checking and dating

A note is checked against its sources before it is bound, and every note carries the date it was checked. When the law or the published guidance changes, the note is revised and the date moves. A note that a reader questions is checked again, and a correction is written into the note it concerns. Notes are the desk's own text, and a place in a note follows the source and the reader's need; it is never bought.

Photographs

Photographs are generated images made for the individual note and captioned as plates. A caption names the section and the note it belongs to. No photograph is presented as a record of a named person, a named employer or a real workplace.