Numbers and ordinal numbers

One or 1

Use 'one' unless you’re talking about a step in a set of instructions, money or another situation where '1' makes more sense.

For example:

• each resident will get one bin bag
• in step 1 of the instructions
• each item costs £1
• 1% of people

More than one

Write numbers greater than one in numerals, such as '3' or '52'. Except:

• where you have 2 sets of numerals next to each other, such as '2 20 litre bins', use 'two 20 litre bins' instead
• for common expressions where numerals would look strange, such as 'one or two of them'

Less than 1

Write numbers less than one with a zero before the decimal point. For example, 0.25.

Spell out common fractions. For example 'three quarters'.

Numbers over 999

Write numbers over 999 with a comma. For example: 1,250.

Thousands, millions and billions

Write millions and billions with the word, rather than with the zeros. For example, '£125 million' or '2 billion people'.

Do not abbreviate thousands, millions or billions. For example:

• '10,000' not '10k'
• '17 million' not '17m'
• '10 billion' not '10b'

If there isn't enough space to write 'million' or 'billion' in full, use lowercase 'mn' or 'bn'.

Do not use 0.xx million for amounts less than 1 million. Use thousands instead. And do not use 0.xx billion for amounts less than 1 billion. Use millions instead.

The only exception to this is in a sequence where you’re talking about amounts above £1 million or billion. For example: '£15.6 million was spent in August 2024, an increase of £0.2 million'.

Range of numbers

To write a range of numbers use 'to'. For example '500 to 900' or '5 to 10 Station Road'.

Ordinal numbers

Spell out first to ninth. After that use 10th, 11th and so on. For example, 'the runner in first place was 10 seconds faster than the runner in 10th place.

Do not use superscript on 'st', 'th' or 'rd'. For example, use '10th' not 10^th.