More than 1,000 gov.uk domains in breach of UK government rules

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An audit of gov.uk domains has turned up more than 1,000 breaches of guidelines and led to the closure of hundreds of sites.

The audit was carried out by Evans Bissessar, the chairman of the UK Government Digital Service’s naming and approvals committee, who looked at all 4,000 gov.uk domains.

It uncovered more than 1,000 breaches, which included out of date websites, inaccessible domains, pages that redirected to a non-government domain and owners who weren’t eligible to own a gov.uk domain, such as an owner that had become a company since registering for the domain.

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Bissessar worked with the domain owners to correct the problems where possible or shut down legacy or unused domains where necessary.

This resulted in the correction of 196 domains and the closure of a further 947 gov.uk domains, of which 393 were central government, 80 devolved administrations and 471 local services.

In a blog Bissessar identified some “top picks” of outdated domains that were still registered to the government, which include the Postal Services Commission, the G7 finance ministers’ summit in 2005 and Bug2000 – the site set up to help allay fears about the millennium bug.

Bissessar said that the GDS team now has to maintain trust in the gov.uk name by continuing to carry out annual checks, ensuring all gov.uk domains are working the way they should and that they are still relevant.

He added that all IT managers in central and local government should familiarise themselves with the relevant naming and registering guidelines.