Legislation.gov.uk

Open access

Legislation.gov.uk

Open access

Access
Legislation.gov.uk is available to all.

Content

• Primary legislation: acts, measures, Northern Ireland orders in council, et cetera. A large proportion of the primary legislation is available in revised versions; details of amendments not yet been incorporated into the text are given under the heading ‘Changes to Legislation’.  The original version is usually provided as well as the revised text. Local acts are only available in the original version.
    
• Secondary legislation: all statutory instruments and statutory rules (et cetera) from 1987 onwards, plus selected older secondary legislation. Some secondary legislation is available in revised versions. 
   
• Other content includes impact assessments, explanatory notes to acts, ministerial directions, draft statutory instruments and draft Northern Ireland statutory rules. 

See the FAQ page for further information.

Browsing
The Browse Legislation tab allows users to select a type of legislation: for example, Acts of the Scottish Parliament, or UK Statutory Instruments.

To browse by jurisdiction (United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland), use the buttons in the middle of the homepage.

Searching 
On the home page, you can find legislation by title, year and/or number. Limit your search by type of legislation if required.

The default Advanced Search form offers full-text searching ('Key words in content'), date range searching and other options. Other advanced search forms are also available: Geographical Extent, Point in Time, Draft Legislation and Impact Assessments.

Reading and downloading
The majority of content is available to read online in HTML or PDF format., most of which are fully accessible. Some documents, including some historical legislation, are not available in fully accessible formats. 

PDFs can also be downloaded by clicking the ‘Print Options’ button at the top of each document. You can also download as a web page.

Help 
Help is available on the Legislation.gov.uk home page, under ‘Finding your way around legislation.gov.uk’, ‘Understanding Legislation’ and ‘More Help’. 

Accessibility
View legislation.gov.uk accessibility information

The legislation.gov.uk platform complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and provides the majority of its content in accessible formats. There is a small number of types of document, including some historical legislation, which is not available in accessible formats (see accessibility information page for more details).