Introduction and access to Whitehall publisher
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-28)

Understand how Whitehall publisher works and how you access it.

Production and Integration environments

We have 2 publishing environments - Production and Integration. You need sign in details and 2-step verification (2SV) for each environment.

Use:
- Production (https://signon.publishing.service.gov.uk/) to publish content live to GOV.UK
- Integration (https://signon.integration.publishing.service.gov.uk/) to practise or to test content
Content on Integration is overwritten weekly in the early hours of Monday morning with what’s in Production, so anything you’ve saved in Integration will be lost.

Documents marked ‘access limited’ are not brought across from Production to Integration.

Request an account

Your GOV.UK lead or an organisation admin can request an account for you to access GOV.UK publishing applications. They’ll typically be in your organisation’s GOV.UK content, digital content, publishing or digital communications team.

They can request a new account through the create new user or request training form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/create_new_user_or_training_request/new).

Access and training for Whitehall Publisher

You’ll need to complete one of the following training courses to get access to Whitehall Publisher:
- Writing and Publishing on GOV.UK for press officers - if you only need to publish news stories and press releases
- Writing and Publishing on GOV.UK - for all other content types
If you’re an existing publisher, you can request refresher training.

You and your GOV.UK lead or an organisation admin will need to complete several tasks.

Your GOV.UK lead or an organisation admin requests training through the create new user or request training form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/create_new_user_or_training_request/new).

You’ll be automatically enrolled on to the training course - set up your account on the training platform using the link in the email inviting you to complete the course.

You’ll be invited to set up your account on the Integration environment (#production-and-integration-environments) (if you do not already have one).

Once you’ve finished the course, ask your GOV.UK lead or the person who requested your account to check you’ve successfully completed the training.

If you’ve successfully completed the training and a new publisher, your GOV.UK lead can request your account for the Production environment using the create new user or request training form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/create_new_user_or_training_request/new).

You’ll be invited to set up your account on the Production environment within 2 days.

If you’re a GOV.UK lead or an organisation admin, you’ll be given access to a checklist and example content to check if a new publisher has successfully completed the course. You’ll be given access the first time you request training for a new publisher.

Types of account

If you have a ‘writer’ account you can create Whitehall content but you cannot publish it. When you get your account, you’ll have ‘writer’ permissions.

If you have an ‘editor’ account, you can create and publish Whitehall content and you can review (2i) content submitted by others.

If you have a ‘managing editor’ account, you can:
- create, publish and 2i Whitehall content
- unpublish Whitehall content (/guidance/how-to-publish-on-gov-uk/unpublishing-and-archiving#unpublishing)
- withdraw and unwithdraw Whitehall content (/guidance/how-to-publish-on-gov-uk/unpublishing-and-archiving#how-to-withdraw-content)
- change your organisation page layout (/guidance/how-to-publish-on-gov-uk/organisation-pages#choosing-your-homepage-layout)
Regardless of what type of account you have, you may also have ‘organisation admin’ permissions. If you have ‘organisation admin’ permissions, you can:
- request training and accounts for new starters (/guidance/how-to-publish-on-gov-uk/introduction-and-access-to-whitehall-publisher#request-an-account)
- manage your organisation’s accounts (/guidance/how-to-publish-on-gov-uk/introduction-and-access-to-whitehall-publisher#manage-your-organisations-accounts)
Most organisations are limited to 5 managing editors and 5 organisation admins, who can be the same people.

Manage your organisation’s accounts

If you have organisation admin permissions, you can:
- view your organisation’s accounts and the applications they have access to
- unsuspend your organisation’s accounts
- reset 2-step verification for your organisation’s accounts
- resend signup emails for your organisation’s accounts
- manage permissions for ‘devolved’ applications (for example, Manuals Publisher or the ‘editor’ permission in Whitehall Publisher)
You cannot manage the ‘managing editor’ permission for Whitehall Publisher. You must submit a request using the accounts request form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/change_existing_user_request/new) instead.

How to get organisation admin permissions

Ask your GOV.UK lead to make a request using the accounts request form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/change_existing_user_request/new).

View your organisation’s accounts

You manage your users through the ‘Users’ tab in the Signon dashboard (https://signon.publishing.service.gov.uk/users).

You can then search for a specific name or email address, or filter your users by their:
- account status - active, suspended, invited or locked
- 2-step verification (2SV) status - enabled, not set up or exempted
- role - normal user or organisation admin
- permissions
You can export a CSV of your users to see what permissions they have across all applications.

You cannot manage accounts in the agencies that your organisation looks after, unless you have the super organisation admin permission.

Unsuspend and unlock accounts

You need to select an individual user account to unsuspend or unlock their account.

On the user account page, there are 2 relevant links below the ‘Actions’ heading:
- ‘View account access log’
- ‘Unsuspend user’ or ‘Unlock account’
The account access log will show you the account history, for example if they’ve entered an invalid password or if they’ve successfully logged in.

The unsuspend link will take you to another screen. You need to untick the suspended box and save to unsuspend the user’s account.

The unlock account link will only appear when a user’s account is locked. Click it to unlock an account.

You can only unsuspend and unlock accounts in your department’s agencies if you’ve got the super organisation admin permission.

Reset 2-step verification (2SV) on accounts

Select an individual user account to reset their 2SV. Select ‘Reset 2-step verification’ under the ‘Actions’ heading.

The user will be prompted to set up 2SV again the next time they sign in.

Resend signup email

Select ‘Resend signup email’ under the ‘Actions’ heading. This will automatically resend the signup email.

Manage permissions for ‘devolved’ applications

You’ll need to have access to the application to give (‘grant’) access or manage permissions for an individual user account. You cannot create new accounts - you must request a new user account (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/create_new_user_or_training_request/new).

You can manage permissions for:
- Content Data - grant or remove access
- Contacts - grant or remove access
- GovSearch - grant or remove access
- Local Links Manager - grant or remove access
- Manuals Publisher - grant or remove access, add or remove ‘editor’ permission
- Places Manager - grant or remove access
- Specialist Publisher - grant or remove access, add or remove ‘editor’ permission
- Support - grant or remove access, add or remove permissions for content advice and request forms (‘content_requesters’) and campaign request form (‘campaign_requesters’)
- Whitehall Publisher - add or remove ‘editor’ permission
If the application or permission is not devolved, you can submit a change user account request (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/change_existing_user_request/new) to change permissions for an account.

To change permissions for an account, select an individual user account in the ‘Users’ section of Signon and then select ‘Manage permissions’ under the ‘Actions’ heading.

To give access to an application which the account does not have access to already, select ‘Grant access’.

To remove access to an application, select ‘Remove access’ and select ‘Confirm’ on the confirmation page.

To add a permission for a devolved application:
- Select ‘Update permissions’.
- Tick the box for the permission you want to add to the account.
- Select ‘Update permissions’ to save the changes.
To remove a permission for a devolved application:
- Select ‘Update permissions’.
- Find the permission and uncheck the box for the permission.
- Select ‘Update permissions’ to save the changes.
Super organisation admin

Super organisation admins are a type of organisation admin.

Super organisation admins can do all the same things as other organisation admins, but for all related organisations that are modelled under your organisation.

You can get super organisation admin permissions if you look after the people in your department’s agencies that have access to GOV.UK tools.

If you need super organisation admin permissions, ask your GOV.UK lead to make a request using the accounts request form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/change_existing_user_request/new).

Signing in to Whitehall publisher

Whitehall publisher is where you can create and edit most government content on GOV.UK. If you have an account, you can sign in to the:
- Production version of Whitehall publisher (https://whitehall-admin.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/admin/) - you will be able to publish content live to GOV.UK
- Integration version of Whitehall publisher (https://whitehall-admin.integration.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/admin/) - you can practise or test content, but you cannot publish it to GOV.UK
You may want to bookmark these two links.

Sign in

On the ‘Sign in’ page enter your email address and password. Once 2-step verification (2SV) is set up on your account, you’ll be asked to enter a unique code every 30 days. Go to the verification app in your phone to get the code. You will not receive the code in an email or text message.

If it’s your first time signing in, use the link in your invitation email to access your account, set a password and set up 2SV.

If you cannot sign in, contact GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/contact/govuk).

Set up 2SV

2-step verification (2SV) is a security feature that is mandatory for most GOV.UK Signon accounts.

You’ll need a smartphone to install a verification app - for example, Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator - or use a desktop authenticator app. We do not specify which verification app your department should use. If you’re not sure which app you should use, ask your IT department.

If you do not have a work phone, you can use your personal phone if your department allows it.

If you do not have a mobile phone you can use or you cannot use a desktop authenticator app, tell your GOV.UK lead or an organisation admin. You’ll need to work with your IT department to find an alternative solution.

If you have accessibility requirements and have questions about using 2SV, ask your GOV.UK lead or one of your organisation admins to send a support ticket to GDS.

Set up 2SV for both your Production and Integration accounts. For each account, sign in and then select the ‘Set up 2-step verification’ link from the right-hand side of the dashboard. Follow the instructions to set up 2SV.

Issues with 2-step verification (2SV)

If you’ve changed your phone or desktop or your 2SV has stopped working, try these common fixes:
- ask your GOV.UK lead or one of your organisation admins to reset your 2SV for you
- check that you are inputting the right code from the authenticator app - if you have both an Integration and a Production account, make sure you are inputting the code for the right environment and ensure that the 6 digit code is entered without a space
- if your authenticator app is not working, try switching to another app – for example from Google Authenticator to Authy although we do not specify which authenticator app your organisation uses
- check that the clock on your device is set to the correct timezone -an incorrect clock can cause codes to be out of sync
- check that the time on the authenticator app itself is synced correctly - this can generally be fixed by going to the setting of the app and syncing the time correction for the codes
If none of these solutions work, ask your GOV.UK lead or one of your organisation admins to send a support ticket to GDS.

Forgot your passphrase

If you’re prompted to, enter the GOV.UK username and password.

At ‘Sign in’ follow the ‘Forgot your passphrase?’ link.

Enter the email address you registered with GOV.UK and click the button ‘Send me passphrase reset instructions’. You should receive the instructions by email. If you do not see them in your inbox, check your spam filter.

If you have still not had a passphrase reset email, ask your GOV.UK lead or one of your organisation admins to contact GDS using the accounts request form (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/change_existing_user_request/new).

Suspending accounts

Unused accounts are automatically suspended after 45 days of inactivity.

Government Digital Service (GDS) will send a reminder to your email address 14 days, 7 days, 3 days and 1 day before suspension. The reminders give you an opportunity to sign in, which will reactivate your account and stop the suspension.

If your account has been suspended, your GOV.UK lead or one of your organisation admins can get your account unsuspended.

Finding your way around publisher

On your publisher ‘Dashboard’ you’ll see:
- tabs to guide you to different types of content
- a selection of useful links to writing and publisher support resources
- your draft documents
- your organisation’s force-published documents
Use the tabs to access content about your own department. From the tabs you can:
- create a new document
- find and update an existing document using the various filters to narrow your search
- create or update a statistics announcement
- select ‘Featured documents’ for your organisation page
- manage ‘Corporate information’ on your organisation page
The ‘More’ tab reveals additional menu items to create or edit your organisation’s content. Sometimes you’ll need to ask GDS to carry out or approve this content. You’ll see a message if this is the case.

You cannot create or edit content that is not the responsibility of your organisation.

Filter documents

There are thousands of documents on GOV.UK. The filters on the left hand side of the Documents page in the backend help you to narrow the list to find only the document you want. You can use one filter or several at once.

You can filter by:
- the document’s title
- author
- organisation
- world location
- document type
- state (for example: draft, submitted, scheduled, published, force published)
- last updated date
- whether the document has broken links
- whether the document is overdue for a review
To clear a filter, click the ‘Reset all fields’ link underneath the ‘Search’ button.

Export your filtered results to a CSV file

If you’re an editor, you can export the results of a filtered backend search to a CSV file.

Once you’ve chosen the fields for your search, select the ‘Export as CSV’ link at the bottom of the list of documents on the right hand side. You’ll then be taken to a screen asking you to confirm the export.

The CSV file will be emailed to you within a few minutes. Larger files may take longer to generate. The file is sent as an email so generating reports does not overload the publishing system.

The CSV file contains a list of content in the following fields:
- public and admin URLs
- title
- lead organisation
- supporting organisation
- first published date
- first published on GOV.UK date
- which editor published the document
- when the document was last updated
- content type and sub-type
- state (draft, submitted, scheduled, published, force published etc)
- attachments
- specialist sectors
- collections
This tool can help you audit your content. For example, you could use it to find out which content has not been updated recently.