Preserving Public Evidence: How We're Tackling Link Rot From March 2026

Public understanding depends on stable, verifiable information. When we cite a source, readers expect that link to work not just today, but months or years from now. Yet during a recent audit of our published articles, we found that 21 out of 65 posts contained at least one broken external link. In many cases, the original page had been moved, restructured, or removed entirely.

This problem is known as link rot, and it affects every publisher that relies on external sources. For a platform built on clarity, transparency, and evidence, it poses a direct risk to trust. If a link no longer works, readers lose access to the context behind our analysis, and the evidential chain becomes harder to follow.

To address this, we are introducing a new approach to preserving the public sector sources we rely on.

📉 Why Link Rot Matters for Public Understanding

Broken links are more than an inconvenience. They can:

• Undermine confidence in the accuracy of an article
• Remove access to the original context behind a claim
• Make it harder for readers to verify information independently
• Create the impression that evidence has been lost or altered
• Damage long term credibility, especially for civic and policy focused work

Government departments regularly update or reorganise their websites. Consultations close, guidance is replaced, and older documents are archived or removed. Without a preservation strategy, even well sourced articles can lose their supporting evidence over time.

🔍 What We Found in Our Audit

Our review of 65 published articles revealed significant scope for improvement:

This confirmed that relying solely on external archives is not enough to guarantee long term access to the sources we cite.

Common Patterns in Link Failures

We identified several recurring issues:

• GOV.UK restructures: Departments reorganise content, changing URL structures
• Consultation closures: Time limited pages removed after consultation periods end
• Guidance updates: Older versions replaced without redirect preservation
• Parliamentary changes: Committee reports moved during website updates
• Agency mergers: Content lost when organisations combine or restructure

🛠️ Our New Approach to Preserving Public Evidence

To protect the integrity of our articles and ensure readers can always access the original material, we are introducing a two part archiving policy.

📋 Public Archiving of Government and Public Sector Sources

Many of the sources we use including GOV.UK, ONS, GCHQ/NCSC, Parliament, NAO, and other public bodies are published under the Open Government Licence (OGL). This licence allows for reuse and redistribution, provided the material is not altered and is properly attributed.

For these sources, we will now:

This ensures that official information remains accessible, even if the hosting department later restructures or removes the page.

🔒 Private Archiving of Copyrighted Sources

Some sources such as news articles, think tank reports, and academic papers are protected by copyright. These cannot be republished or mirrored publicly.

For these sources, we will:

• Store a private, timestamped verification copy for internal use
• Always link to the original source in the article
• Add a note if the original becomes unavailable, confirming that we hold a preserved copy for evidential purposes
• Maintain complete compliance with copyright law and fair dealing provisions

This approach respects copyright while maintaining a complete audit trail.

📈 How This Improves Transparency and Trust

Our goal is to ensure that every article we publish remains verifiable, even years after publication. This new system strengthens that commitment by:

• Preserving the exact version of public sector information we relied on
• Making archived OGL material accessible to readers
• Maintaining internal verification copies of copyrighted sources
• Ensuring that every citation remains traceable and accountable
• Providing a clear, consistent policy for how we handle evidence

By being open about the problem and transparent about the solution, we aim to reinforce the trust readers place in our work.

📋 Implementation Timeline

Our rollout plan ensures minimal disruption while maximum benefit:

👀 What Readers Will See Going Forward

When reading an article, you may notice:

• The original source link, as usual but with a strike through
• A secondary link labelled "Archived copy (OGL)" for public sector material
• A note stating "Archived internally for verification" where copyright applies

These additions are designed to support clarity, not clutter. The original source remains primary; the archive simply ensures that the evidence remains available.

📝 Example of New Reference Format

🎯 Benefits for Long Term Reliability

This archiving approach delivers several key advantages:

For Readers

• Guaranteed access: Sources remain available even if originals disappear
• Version consistency: Archived copies show exactly what we referenced
• Verification capability: Ability to check our interpretation against original material
• Long term reliability: Articles remain fully referenced years later

For UKPoliticsDecoded

• Editorial integrity: Complete evidential chain for every claim
• Quality assurance: Internal team can verify all references
• Professional standards: Meets best practice for evidence based journalism
• Trust building: Demonstrates commitment to transparency and accountability

For Public Understanding

• Preserved context: Government information remains accessible
• Historical record: Snapshots show how policy positions evolved
• Democratic accountability: Officials' statements and positions preserved
• Research continuity: Academic and policy research remains referenceable

📋 Our Commitment to Long Term Reliability

UKPoliticsDecoded exists to make public policy clearer, more accessible, and easier to understand. That mission depends on evidence that readers can trust. By addressing link rot directly and implementing a robust preservation strategy, we are strengthening the foundations of our work and ensuring that our articles remain reliable long after publication.

📖 Publishing Standards Hub

We will be publishing a comprehensive policy document on our standards hub covering:

• Detailed archiving procedures
• Copyright compliance protocols
• OGL licensing requirements
• Quality assurance processes
• Reader notification policies

This will provide complete transparency about how we preserve and manage sources.

💬 Your Feedback Shapes Our Approach

If you have questions about our archiving approach or suggestions for improving transparency further, we welcome your feedback. This policy represents our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of evidence based analysis, but it can be refined based on reader needs and practical experience.

Contact us if you:

• Notice a broken link we haven't yet identified
• Have suggestions for improving our archiving approach
• Want clarification about copyright or OGL compliance
• Need access to a source that has disappeared
• Have concerns about our preservation methods

Link rot is a technical problem, but it has profound implications for trust, accountability, and democratic transparency. When government information disappears, public understanding suffers. When sources become inaccessible, evidence based analysis becomes harder to verify.

Our new archiving policy addresses these challenges directly, ensuring that:

• Public sector information remains accessible to all
• Copyrighted material is preserved for verification
• Every article maintains its evidential integrity
• Readers can trust our long term reliability

This is not just about fixing broken links, it's about preserving the foundation of informed public debate. By maintaining stable access to the sources we cite, we strengthen the connection between evidence and analysis that makes democratic accountability possible.

From March 2026, every UKPoliticsDecoded article will be built on preserved, verifiable foundations. Because public understanding deserves nothing less than complete reliability.