Editorial policy: how we research, source and correct pages

Our rules for every page

1. Every figure, rule, threshold and date links to its source at the point it is used, and every page lists its sources with the date we checked them.
2. Primary sources first: GOV.UK, legislation, HM Treasury, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Homes England, HMRC, the Office for National Statistics, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority. Lenders’ own pages and the main house price indices next. Reputable press and established consumer bodies after that, for market data such as mortgage rate tables and typical fees. We never cite another guide as the source of a government rule.
3. Where a rule has not been announced, we say so. Where we use a working assumption (usually the Help to Buy rules), it is labelled “Assumed” on the page and in the calculator, and explained on the methodology page.
4. We describe and compare; we do not recommend products. No page will tell you which lender, broker or solicitor to use.
5. Plain English. If a term needs explaining, we explain it in the sentence where it first appears.
6. We show the downsides. A scheme page that only lists benefits is marketing, not information.

How pages are made

Research comes first: we read the official source, the guidance behind it and, where one exists, the government’s evaluation of the previous scheme. We then draft the page, often with the help of AI tools, and a human editor checks every figure against the source, applies the rules above and signs it off. Automated checks run before every publication to catch missing sources, unsupported figures and formatting errors. Pages carry the date they were published and the date they were last updated.

Reusing government text

Where we quote GOV.UK, we quote it exactly and attribute it. Government text is reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which requires the statement: Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. We never present government material in a way that suggests official status or endorsement, and we do not use the Royal Arms, the GOV.UK crown or any government logo.

Corrections

If we get something wrong we fix it, date the correction on the page and, for anything that changes a calculator result, note it in the methodology page’s change log. Report a mistake by email to hello@yourfirsthomecalculator.co.uk with the page address. We do not remove pages to hide errors.

What we will never publish

• A claim to be official, approved by the government or part of the scheme.
• An application form, a waiting list or a fee for anything to do with a government scheme.
• A page written to attract search traffic that does not answer a real question with real facts.
• A recommendation of a specific mortgage, lender, broker or solicitor.
• Paid content that is not labelled as paid.

Independence and money

We currently earn nothing from this site. If that changes, the how we make money page will explain exactly how, and any paid placement or referral will be labelled where it appears. Commercial arrangements will never change a fact on a page or the result of a calculator.