Code of Conduct for ONS Repositories

Contributors to repositories hosted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) must follow this Code of Conduct and adhere to the Civil Service Code.

For contribution workflow and conventions, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Terminology:

  • “project” refers to ONS repositories and associated collaboration spaces.
  • “maintainer” refers to ONS repository owners and designated maintainers.
  • “leadership” refers to repository owners, line managers, and delegated governance roles.

Our Pledge

We as members, contributors, and leaders pledge to make participation in our projects and community a safe, inclusive, harassment‑free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

We commit to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, and healthy community.

Our Standards

Examples of behaviour that contributes to a positive environment include:

  • Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
  • Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
  • Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
  • Taking responsibility and apologising to those affected by our mistakes, and learning from the experience
  • Focusing on what is best for the overall community and public service mission

Examples of unacceptable behaviour include:

  • Harassment of any kind, including sexual language or imagery, unwelcome advances
  • Trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
  • Public or private harassment, including repeated unwanted contact
  • Publishing others’ private information (such as physical or email address) without explicit permission
  • Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Enforcement Responsibilities

Maintainers are responsible for clarifying and enforcing standards of acceptable behaviour. They will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to behaviour deemed unacceptable, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that violate this Code, and may ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for behaviours that they deem to be harmful.

Scope

This Code applies within all project spaces and also when an individual is officially representing the project in public spaces. Representation can include using an official project email address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behaviour may be reported to the project team at complaints.manager@ons.gov.uk. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated promptly and fairly.

The project team is obligated to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.

Maintainers or leadership who do not act in good faith in enforcing this Code may face temporary or permanent repercussions determined by other members of the leadership.

Enforcement Guidelines

Community leaders will follow these guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

1. Correction

Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behaviour deemed unprofessional or unwelcome but believed to be an isolated incident.

Consequence: A private, written warning from maintainers, including clarification of the expected behaviour. A copy may be stored for audit.

2. Warning

Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions after a previous correction.

Consequence: A formal warning, with potential temporary restriction on interaction (e.g. commenting). Repeated behaviour may escalate.

3. Temporary Ban

Impact: Repeated violations of the Code, including sustained inappropriate behaviour.

Consequence: Temporary removal from all interaction within project spaces for a defined period. Conditions for reinstatement will be specified.

4. Permanent Ban

Impact: Demonstrating a pattern of violation, harassment, or aggression, or refusal to cease unacceptable behaviour.

Consequence: Permanent removal from all project spaces. Future contributions may be rejected automatically.

Civil Service Code

All contributors employed as civil servants must also adhere to the Civil Service Code values: integrity, honesty, objectivity, impartiality.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 3.0.