Stopping the Process

Stopping the Registration or Publishing Process

When a user identifies a problem with an SR or associated document they should contact the Statutory Publications Office (SPO) immediately on 0289 052 8481 (Ext 28481) or 0289 052 3237 (Ext 23237) to discuss the options available to rectify the issue.  There are a limited number of intervention actions which can be taken but many of these are time critical due to the increased efficiencies built into legislation.gov.uk Publishing.

Where an SR or associated document bundle has yet to be processed by the SPO then it is possible to ask for the submitted SR bundle to be withdrawn and for the user to submit a new bundle when they are ready.

Withdrawal of a made SR bundle (i.e. a numbered SR) post-registration can be done, but causes gaps in the SR number series.  This causes problems for end-users of legislation as SR numbering should be a continuous, unbroken, series of numbers for the year.  Departments also incur additional publication costs.  Departments are therefore encouraged to fully check that the documents they are supplying and the associated registration information are correct, complete and accurate before submitting the bundle for registration.  Where possible alternatives to withdrawing an SR should be considered, for example amending SRs, correction slips or corrected reprint and the SPO can provide advice in this situation.

Drafts SRs and associated documents can be withdrawn prior to publication, again by submitting a request to the SPO.  Please note: where only associated documents to an SR have been withdrawn then new documents can be submitted but this is not possible until the SR itself has published. 

In order to provide an audit trail for the withdrawal request, users are asked to email their request, quoting the SR or Document Title, SR Number (if applicable), bundle reference and reason for withdrawal, to spo.legislation@ofmdfmni.gov.uk.    Please note: it is intended to introduce online withdrawal request functionality to legislation.gov.uk Publishing in the coming months.

Withdrawal of any document after publication to legislation.gov.uk needs to be agreed by the Legislation Services Team at The National Archives, who would also need to processthe withdrawal.  Withdrawal of legislation items from legislation.gov.uk is only done in exceptional circumstances, such as an SR being found to be ultra vires. Please liaise with SPO who will contact the Legislation Services Team to make such arrangements where withdrawal is deemed necessary.