How To Format A UK Business Letter

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How to Format a UK Business Letter

by Ali Hale
I covered writing US business letters, but I know we have a number of readers in the United
Kingdom too – or readers who might want to write to companies within the UK. I’ll just be covering
the formatting here rather than explaining again why each element is included, so you might want to
read the article on US business letters first.
The UK format is similar to US full block format, with these key differences for UK letters:
The return address is right-aligned

The date is written as “15th May 2008” not “May 15, 2008”
A comma, not a colon, follows the recipients’ name
The subject (if included) is centred
In the UK, a standard business letter looks like this:
1 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
Just as with the US examples, I’ll break the letter down into the main elements, working from the top
to the bottom.
Your Address
Your address, also known as the “return address”, comes first (leave this off if you’re using letter-
headed paper).
123 Old Road

Newtown
London
SW1 3AA
Your return address should be right-justified.
The Date
Directly beneath this, the date on which the letter was written:
15th May 2008
In the UK, the day comes before the month, and it is fine to put “st”, “nd” or “th” after the day’s date,
eg. “15th” “1st” or “2nd”.
You can position the date on the right or on the left of your letter.
Recipent’s name and address
2 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
Beneath this, you should put the recipient’s name and address, just as it would appear on the
envelope. If you’re using a window envelope, make sure it’ll show through when the paper is
inserted.
The recipient’s name and address should be positioned on the left-hand side.
The Greeting
After their address, you should leave a line’s space then put “Dear Mr Jones”, “Dear Bob” or “Dear
Sir/Madam” as appropriate. Follow this with a comma.
The greeting should be left-aligned.
The Subject
You may want to include a subject for your letter — this is often helpful to the recipient, especially if
they receive a lot of mail. If you do include a subject line, thsi should be directly below the “Dear
name”, centered on the page, and can be in bold, uppercase or both to make it stand out.
The Text of your Letter
The main body of your letter should have:
Single-spacing between lines

A blank line (NOT an indent) before each new paragraph
Each new paragraph should start at the left hand side.
The Closing and Your Name and Signature
After the body of text, your letter should end with an appropriate closing phrase such as “Yours
sincerely” or “With best regards”, and a comma.
Leave several blank lines after the closing (so you can sign the letter after printing it), then type your
name. You can optionally put your job title and company name on the line beneath this.
Joe Bloggs
Marketing Director, BizSolutions
The closing and your name and signature should all be on the left hand side.
Still stuck? Try this letter writing exercise – it’s aimed at school-kids in the UK, but it’s good fun for
adults too!
Related Articles
How to Format a US Business Letter
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35 Responses to “How to Format a UK Business Letter”

1. Daniel Scocco on August 14, 2008 10:05 am
Here is a comment that arrived to us via email:
“Forgive me for being pedantic, but I have spotted what I believe is an error on your UK
business letter. As far as I know, ‘Yours faithfully’ is used when you do not know the intended
recipient’s name ( as in ‘Dear Sir’) and ‘Yours sincerely’ when you do (but in a formal context
– ‘Dear Mr Simpson’). ‘With best wishes’ or ‘Regards’ would be used in a polite but less
formal letter.”
2. Ali on August 14, 2008 10:41 am
Thanks Daniel, and thanks to the reader who emailed — completely my fault! I’d copied the
same error from the US business letter article. (I’m very red-faced now!) I’ll send you a
corrected image…
3. WL on August 14, 2008 6:12 pm
I notice that on both your US & UK examples, you have the subject line following the
greeting. I’ve never seen this before, at least in the US. What standard does this follow? I’ve
4 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
always been taught to write the subject between the recipient’s address and the greeting.
4. fullyfledged on August 15, 2008 10:10 am
How do you correctly format a greeting to an addressee who is unknown, using To Whom it
may Concern?
5. Ali on August 15, 2008 11:56 am
Hi WL,
My understanding is that in the US, a reference line MAY be placed after the address, but that
this is optional (and usually used for eg. a response to a previous letter or to a job application).
The subject line is also optional but in all the examples I’ve seen, it appears directly above the
body of the letter (US and UK).
See these examples:
http://www.letterwritingguide.com/businessletterformat.htmhttp://www.savvy-business-
correspondence.com/BizLetterElements.html (comments under ‘Subject line’)
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/writing/business-letter/subject
However, after a couple of comments on this, I’m suspecting that the reference line after the
address is far more common than online examples have led me to believe! I’ll do a little more
research and update the US business letter article as appropriate. Certainly don’t want to cause
confusion.
6. Ali on August 15, 2008 11:57 am
Hi fullyfledged,
I would normally use “Dear Sir/Madam” rather than “To Whom It May Concern”.
7. chelsey smith on May 12, 2009 5:44 pm
Yes, you don’t have enough iformation to help me on this website. I am amazed that anybody
can find anything on this website. THANKS!!!!!!
8. Andre Routh on May 14, 2009 3:17 pm
Dear Ali:
I’ve been looking for a well-mannered way of opening and closing emails to equal-level
colleages, higher-level colleages (Directors, VPs and such), clients, and friends.
“Dear” seems too formal, “Hi” seems too informal, while just starting with the persons name
seems too abrupt (put it this way, I feel slightly offended if the sender just starts with my name,
or worse, just jumps straight into the body of the message).
The closing is difficult as well. “Yours faithfully” for people you “Dear Sir”d at the beginning
is an easy enough to remember rule. “Yours sincerely” for ending messages that started with
“Dear Fred” sounds a bit “hand wringing”. “With best regards” sounds better. “Best regards” is
a bit less formal whereas just “Regards” on its own seems a bit curt.
5 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
Please could you research correct email etiquette for the different classes of email and report
on them?
Yours sincerely,
Andre
9. Sasha on November 2, 2009 8:18 am
I am writing about the use of commas and st/nd/th.
Back in Australia, I attended a professional writing course which outlined a very similar
formal letter structure.
There are two parts which were highlighted in the course as obsolete and not used in
formal/professional context.
The first is the use of st/nd/th after the number in the date. For instance the date in the above
letter would be 21 July 2008.
The second is the use of commas in the gretting and salutation.
For example:
Dear Mr Jones
REQUEST FOR JOB APPLICAITON PACK
10. Sasha on November 2, 2009 8:20 am
whoops – I enter before finishing.
Part 2
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerly
Tom Jones
Note the lack of comma and full stop after the greeting, salutation and signed off name.
This was from a progressive upto date course on professional writing.
Does the same apply to the UK, or is it still considered a requirments to use commas and
fullstops on the greeting and salutation, and the st/nd/th after the number in the date?
11. Andi Samoah on January 19, 2010 3:19 am
This is one of the best post i even seen today, many thanks for this and i was bookmarking
your site. Hope to see more article from you in the near future. Thanks for this buddy.
12. Jim Clark on January 20, 2010 11:42 pm
What a wonderfull post dude, thanks for sharing this. For sure i will check your another post
6 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
later, i just bookmarking this site. Again happy posting
13. Joel Clark on January 23, 2010 5:50 pm
This is very informative post i’ve seen today. I learned lot from you and hope you continue
your great post, kindly do visit my blog also and give some feedback.
14. Robert Tantulir on January 24, 2010 12:33 am
Thanks for this informative post, i think i would like to re visit your blog. awesome work dude
15. Saint-Petersburg hotels on February 9, 2010 7:14 am
Thank you for the useful article. But I’m still curious about fonts and letters’ size. I’ve been
searching for this info on the Internet with no positive results.
16. Anton Mcfarlane on March 9, 2010 9:46 am
In the paragraph that reads “Yours faithfully” you would only write that if you dont know the
recipient you would write Yours Sincerely.
17. Stuart Tracey on November 22, 2010 9:37 am
Your style is 20 years out of date! Punctuation should be open and everything including
address and date should be left aligned. There should be no “rd/th” after numbers in date eg 22
November NOT 22nd November.
18. Simon on January 11, 2011 5:56 am
You UK letter is incorrect. You have used yours faithfully to close a letter that started with
Dear .
Dear Sir,
Text.
Yours faithfully,
T.Bobbers
* Use Dear Madam only if you know the gender of the recipient. Dear Sir/Madam is sloppy,
but in common use.
Dear Mr. Surname,

Text.
Yours sincerely,
T.Bobbers
Cristian names should not be used in a business letter, which is always formal.
Otherwise, its great.
19. Simon on January 11, 2011 5:58 am
Amendment on my previous post. The web site comments box filtered out the html.
Dear .
7 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
Should have been,

Dear Sir, or Dear Madam. Otherwise use yours sincerely.
20. Mike on February 10, 2011 7:05 pm
Enjoyed the site. The business letter has evolved quite considerably over the last 30 years.
Currently I use as above with no punctuation or superscript except in the body. But I will use
both addresses on the left if the letter is copied or using cut and paste. Endings Dear
Anonymous – faithfully Dear Amos – sincerely. If it is a complaint I normally still use ‘I
remain, Sir, your obedient servant’. Hopefully they note the sarcasm! I also like the ‘sorry for
the long letter but I haven’t had time to write a short one!
For informal greeting I have used ‘Greetings Alan’ and I also use Hi and Watcha’. But mostly I
still use ‘Dear’ in emails and letters.
However I do like to watch language and writing evolve and am always open to change, even
if at first glance it doesn’t seem for the better!
Regards and keep up the good work!
21. Tory on February 16, 2011 11:01 pm
Hi,
Im wondering – what if we start with ‘To whom it may concern’ what should the ending be?
‘Yours faithfully’? Since we don’t know who we are sending to?
Thank you in advance
22. JellyBean on March 21, 2011 10:15 am
This was very helpful, thank you very very very much!
23. Dot on April 3, 2011 3:21 pm
Also in British English you don’t put a dot after Mr.

So Mr Bob Jones would be correct.
24. Andy on May 16, 2011 11:46 am
Old school here.

No, no, no!
Mr. is correct.
Yours sincerely is if you do NOT know the person or, have used their formal title such as Dear
Mr. Smith, Dr. Richards and such.
Yours faithfully is if you have used the first name e.g. Dear Richard.
Semi colons are for pauses between sentences, for example in a bullet point punctuated
paragraph, thus:
* The right writer wrote on the right writing paper;
* They sat there, with their feet over there;
Christian names CAN be used in a business letter, particularly if you have corresponded
previously.
8 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
Over formalising letters creates a mechanistic view and therefore implies that there is not a
person attached.
Dear sir or madam; not Dear sir/madam

Dear Miss Penelope; not Dear Ms.
It is very frustrating to see all these rules that have been invented by whomeve over the years.
If my English teacher could see what has happened in the electronic age he would be firing
[black]board rubbers (erasers to those cousins in USA!) at all of us and spinning in his grave –
God rest him.
Andy
25. Martin Cummins on May 18, 2011 6:11 am
Dear Ali,
Your site is exceedingly helpful. As “Old School” writes with such authority, I feel that I’m in
total disagreement with his remark concerning “Yours sincerely”, which contradicts everyone
else. Surely, when using “Dear Sir”, you are the humble vassel or serf addressing your lord,
and therefore you have sworn to be “Faithfull” in the event of him requiring your services. I
am “Exceedingly Old School!”
Martin.
26. Martin Cummins on May 18, 2011 6:18 am
P.S. -I should have spelt “Vassel” as “Vassal”; Please spare my blushes and correct during
moderation!
Much obliged,
Martin.
27. Christopher Kazim on June 19, 2011 9:00 pm
In British English, as in French, abbreviations whose first letter is the first letter of the affected
word and whose second letter is the last letter of the affected word do not take a full stop after
the second letter.
However, should an abbreviation take the first letter and another letter before the last letter
instead, a full stop should follow the abbreviation.
Examples:
St = Saint; St. = Street

Dr = Doctor; Dr. = Drive
Blvd = Boulevard; Av. = Avenue
Mr= Mister
Ms = Miss
Mrs= Mistress
28. Dan on July 15, 2011 2:48 pm
In response to Andre Routh’s post of 14 May 2009, I can heartily recommend the closing that
Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding used in his famous letter. It shows the proper feudal spirit
even when the body of the message is talking back to the boss.
9 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
I have the honour to be,

Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Air Chief Marshal,

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief,
Fighter Command, Royal Air Force.
29. Harry on July 18, 2011 4:29 am
Goodmorning, please I want to address a letter to my boss through my manager requesting for
a leave of absence. The addressing is confusing me. Could you please give me a hint on how
the addressing should be like in the UK standard. Thanks a lot!
30. Business Credit on July 19, 2011 4:05 am
Wow, awesome blog. Did you make this on your own?
31. MALA on July 19, 2011 10:05 am
I’m sorry. I would like to get a complete lesson cours of how to write a business letter from
you.
32. VIRAJ GURJAR on August 31, 2011 8:11 am
I am interested to subscribe to DailyWritingTips.com via email and you’ll be able to download

our ebook, “Basic English Grammar.”
Please tell me that this is absolutely free and no strings attached as I am an very keen person of
English lway of communication
and inersted in this facility.
33. baidu123 on September 8, 2011 5:50 am
I want to thank you such a lot of for your job you have made in writing this posting. I am
hoping the same most reliable work from you down the road also.
34. Dale Gray on October 26, 2011 6:50 am
Hi
In a UK buisness letter addressing it as follows:
For the attention of Mrs J Bloggs
Bloggs and Bloggs Ltd

address line 1
address line2
city
postcode
Dears Sirs
finishing with yours faithfully
10 of 14 15/1/12 6:39 PM
I was always told that this format was addressed to the company so a general Dear Sirs was
acceptable and the for the attention of was not classed as addressing it to a person so yours
faithfully was correct, I’d be interested in your oppinion on this. I find this a useful in between
letter (addressed to a person but not one you know)
Dale
35. John Likens on December 1, 2011 11:46 pm
I wonder how the greeting should go if you’re writing to someone who is already a Sir, for
instance Sir Paul McCartney or Sir Patrick Moore. Thank you for your response and for
reminding me of the rules…
John Likens
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How to Format a UK Business Letter

The return address is right-aligned

In the UK, a standard business letter looks like this:

123 Old Road

Your return address should be right-justified.

15th May 2008

Recipent’s name and address

The greeting should be left-aligned.

The Text of your Letter

The main body of your letter should have:

Single-spacing between lines

Each new paragraph should start at the left hand side.

The Closing and Your Name and Signature

Join Over 50,000 Email Subscribers and Get a Free eBook!

Your email address Subscribe

35 Responses to “How to Format a UK Business Letter”

Here is a comment that arrived to us via email:

2. Ali on August 14, 2008 10:41 am

3. WL on August 14, 2008 6:12 pm

4. fullyfledged on August 15, 2008 10:10 am

5. Ali on August 15, 2008 11:56 am

See these examples:

6. Ali on August 15, 2008 11:57 am

7. chelsey smith on May 12, 2009 5:44 pm

8. Andre Routh on May 14, 2009 3:17 pm

9. Sasha on November 2, 2009 8:18 am

I am writing about the use of commas and st/nd/th.

The second is the use of commas in the gretting and salutation.

REQUEST FOR JOB APPLICAITON PACK

10. Sasha on November 2, 2009 8:20 am

whoops – I enter before finishing.

Thank you for your time.

This was from a progressive upto date course on professional writing.

11. Andi Samoah on January 19, 2010 3:19 am

12. Jim Clark on January 20, 2010 11:42 pm

later, i just bookmarking this site. Again happy posting

13. Joel Clark on January 23, 2010 5:50 pm

14. Robert Tantulir on January 24, 2010 12:33 am

15. Saint-Petersburg hotels on February 9, 2010 7:14 am

16. Anton Mcfarlane on March 9, 2010 9:46 am

17. Stuart Tracey on November 22, 2010 9:37 am

18. Simon on January 11, 2011 5:56 am

Dear Mr. Surname,

Otherwise, its great.

19. Simon on January 11, 2011 5:58 am

Should have been,

20. Mike on February 10, 2011 7:05 pm

Regards and keep up the good work!

21. Tory on February 16, 2011 11:01 pm

Thank you in advance

22. JellyBean on March 21, 2011 10:15 am

23. Dot on April 3, 2011 3:21 pm

Also in British English you don’t put a dot after Mr.

24. Andy on May 16, 2011 11:46 am

Old school here.

Dear sir or madam; not Dear sir/madam

25. Martin Cummins on May 18, 2011 6:11 am

26. Martin Cummins on May 18, 2011 6:18 am

27. Christopher Kazim on June 19, 2011 9:00 pm

St = Saint; St. = Street

28. Dan on July 15, 2011 2:48 pm