About the Word Centre

At the Word Centre we have many years' experience of helping organisations use plain English. However big or small your organisation, we have the resources and skills to meet your needs. We're not a government body or pressure group - just a professional team of trainers, editors and proof readers who are passionate about plain English.

What plain English can do for your organisation

Plain English can change the way you communicate with your customers, and this will transform the way they see you. If you talk about customer care, you have to practise what you preach. By writing to your customers in plain English you will show them that you value them.

Perhaps your customers phone up and say "You've sent me this letter. What does it mean?" Plain English will make your message clear and unambiguous, saving you time and money.

How can we help?

Training and coaching

We can train your staff to write in plain English. If you have people who spend most of their time writing - sending emails, writing reports, replying to customers' letters or answering enquiries - we can help them get it right first time. Please click here or on the 'training' link to the left for more information.

Editing and document accreditation

We can edit your documents into plain English and give them our seal of approval. If they suffer from long-winded, bureaucratic language we will replace this with straightforward, businesslike English.

Like you, we're a professional organisation, so we understand that you want your documents to look and sound professional. We won't be dogmatic and tell you "you've got to say it this way". We work with you to give you the documents you want and need.

Please click here or on the 'editing' link to the left for more information.

What do you need to do?

If you would like more information about how we can help, ring us on 0114 257 1400 (from outside the UK - 44 114 257 1400) or you can fill in an enquiry form.

If you want us to look at your documents, you can email them to us, or fax them to us on 0114 257 1528 (from outside the UK - 44 114 257 1528).

If you prefer, you can send them to us at:

The Word Centre
27 Norfolk Hill
Sheffield
S35 8QA
UK

We'll give you our opinion, free of charge. If we think your documents need improving, we will tell you and give you an estimate for the work we need to do. We won't do any work until you accept our estimate.

Once your document reaches our standard, it can have our 'plain English approved' logo. Again, you can find out more from the 'editing' pages.

© The Word Centre 2005