GOV.UK is the single domain for government and the default position is that the majority of government bodies will use GOV.UK. However, there are a small number of cases where this would not be appropriate. Any request for a domain exemption from GOV.UK will need to demonstrate to DH Digital and GDS that it meets at least one of the exemption criteria.
Exemptions, when agreed, are for the domain only. Spend on any development or support of the actual website is still subject to the digital spend controls detailed in this guidance and subject to separate application and approvals. If you are planning to build a new website, you might need both a domain exemption and spend approval by GDS. The DH Digital team will coordinate this but please note that these are two separate processes and may take different timeframes to resolve.
Within health, use of the NHS.UK domain name is sometimes more appropriate than GOV.UK. Like the GOV.UK domain, specific exemptions apply to the NHS domain.
- Provided by: HSCIC
- Applies to: services on, or planned to be on, an nhs.uk domain name
Criteria to determine which services shouldn't be on GOV.UK
- Provided by: GOV.UK
- Applies to: digital publishing and services by central government organisations
Guidelines for eligibility and use of gov.uk domains.
- Provided by: GDS
- Applies to: government departments and agencies using gov.uk domains