Content style guide updates

New and updated entries in the MoJ content style guide.

Entry	Type	Description	Date
OASys	New	OASys is an abbreviation of Offender Assessment System, which is used by staff across prisons and probation to complete risk and need assessments. The term is well known and widely understood in its abbreviated form. It is consistently written with the capitalisation OASys.	21 May 2025
post-sentence supervision (PSS)	New	Post-sentence supervision is a period of supervision in the community that follows a prison sentence. The initialism is well understood and can be used without the term being spelt out in full.	9 June 2025
pre-sentence report (PSR)	New	Write out pre-sentence report (PSR) on first mention and use PSR or 'the report' thereafter. PSRs are reports that a court uses to help decide on a defendant's sentence. They consider a defendant's offending behaviour, the risk they pose and to whom. A PSR will provide an independent recommendation of the sentencing options available to the court.	1 April 2025
SDS40	New	SDS40 stands for Standard determinate sentence with a 40% release date. SDS40 is a statutory instrument that changed the release points of certain sentences and offences from 50% to 40%. The term SDS40 is commonly understood in HMPPS.	1 April 2025
probation practitioner	Updated	Corrected ‘probation support officer’ to ‘probation services officer’.	26 March 2025
Identity numbers (HMPPS only)	Updated	A change to the identity numbers entry to include the probation term CRN.	28 February 2025
Prison, establishment	New	A new entry on how to use the terms 'prison' and 'establishment'. It includes guidance on how to refer to adult prisons, young offender institutions (YOIs) and other establishments. It also outlines which terms are more likely be understood by the public and users with English as a second language.	25 February 2025
Category (such as Category A prison)	Updated	Category can be shortened to ‘Cat’ if space is limited, for example in alert flags on the prisoner profile.	21 February 2025
PNC number	New	An identity number assigned to a person in the Police National Computer (PNC). Use ‘PNC number’. This is more well known than the full version.	9 January 2025