Legislation.gov.uk
Legislation.gov.uk provides free online access to UK legislation and accompanying explanatory documents, and is the official publication site for newly enact…
What Legislation.gov.uk is
Legislation.gov.uk provides free online access to UK legislation and accompanying explanatory documents, and is the official publication site for newly enacted legislation. Its holdings cover most types of UK legislation, including primary legislation from 1988 onward and secondary legislation from 1987 onward, though some types and years are missing. Users can search by title or keywords, browse by type and category, or use advanced search for content keywords and geographic extent. Revised texts incorporate amendments, while point-in-time versions show legislation as it stood at a particular time. The site also identifies changes not yet reflected in revised text and warns that revised versions may not be fully up to date. It aims to publish new material alongside printed publication or within 24 hours; complex documents may first appear as PDFs. Pages offer formats including HTML5, XML, Akoma Ntoso, RDFa, and RDF/XML. The API supports access to legislation content and metadata, search, lists, feeds, and multiple formats. It covers England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland; API use is subject to a fair-use limit of 3,000 requests per IP address every five minutes and requires a user agent.
Good
- Free access through web and API.
- Search by title, keywords, and geographic extent.
- Point-in-time versions show legislation as it stood at a chosen time.
- Pages provide multiple formats, including HTML5 and XML.
- Free subscription feeds track newly enacted legislation.
Watch out
- Coverage has gaps and exceptions.
- Revised texts may not reflect all changes yet.
- API access is limited to 3,000 requests per IP every five minutes.
- Some documents may first appear only as PDFs.
Who it suits
It suits people who need to find, browse, or reuse UK legislation, including users who want API access or point-in-time texts. Readers should check coverage and revision notes for gaps or changes not yet incorporated.
Verdict
Legislation.gov.uk is a free access point for much UK legislation, with search, revised texts, historical versions, and API formats. Its coverage is not complete, and users should check the site's notes about revisions and gaps.
The facts
Each one read from Legislation.gov.uk's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Accessibility
- Users can request large print or braille copies of most enacted and revised legislation, except content available only as scanned PDFs.checked 9 Oct 2026
- API
- The Legislation API supports access to legislation content and metadata, search, lists, feeds, and multiple formats.checked 9 Oct 2026
- API and fair use
- The site provides an API with data formats described on its Formats page, and asks non-browser users to identify scrapers or crawlers with a legitimate user-agent string.checked 9 Oct 2026
- API limit
- The API fair use policy currently limits each IP address to 3,000 requests every 5 minutes and requires a user agent.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Change tracking
- The site lists changes that have not yet been applied to revised text, and warns that revised legislation may not be fully up to date.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Coverage
- The site carries most types of UK legislation, including primary legislation from 1988 onward and secondary legislation from 1987 onward, with stated exceptions and gaps.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Coverage limits
- The site notes that some legislation is absent because it is not available in a web-publishable format, and that its holdings are not complete for every type and year.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Feeds
- Free Atom subscription feeds provide updates on newly published legislation, with feeds available for several UK jurisdictions and legislation types.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Formats
- Most legislation since 1988 is available in formats including HTML, plain text, and PDFs with accessible text.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Official publication
- Legislation.gov.uk is the official place of publication for newly enacted UK legislation.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Open data
- The site states that its content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated, with some EU-derived content under separate reuse terms.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Operator
- The National Archives manages the website on behalf of HM Government.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- The privacy notice says the site generally does not use cookies and that usage information is used to assess compatibility and improve the service.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Publication timing
- The site aims to publish new legislation simultaneously with, or within 24 hours of, its publication in printed form, though complex documents may take longer.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Legislation.gov.uk provides online access to UK legislation and accompanying explanatory documents.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Reuse
- The site encourages commercial and non-commercial reuse of API data under open licences, subject to its fair use policy.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Revised legislation
- The site provides access to revised legislation as it stood at specific points in time.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Revised texts
- The editorial team incorporates amendments and other effects into revised legislation, and the site provides point-in-time versions for documents.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Search
- Users can search by title or keywords and browse legislation by type and category; advanced search includes content keywords and geographic extent.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Support
- The site team handles queries about publishing enacted and revised legislation and accepts feedback by email; it says it can assist only with English-language enquiries.checked 9 Oct 2026
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