Getting a .gov.uk domain for your parish or town council

A .gov.uk address is the one residents already trust for a public body. It is also easier to hand on when a clerk leaves, because the council owns the mailboxes rather than a person with a free webmail account. Parish and town councils in England can apply. This guide is the process. It is not an application, and we are not the people who approve one.

We are not a registrar. We do not sell domains, and we do not decide whether a name is accepted. An approved registrar does the registration. We work with Krystal Hosting (opens in a new tab). Through Krystal we have registered clivigerparishcouncil.gov.uk and haberghameavesparishcouncil.gov.uk. You can use another approved registrar if you prefer. The list is published by GOV.UK (opens in a new tab), and the Domains Team does not recommend a single supplier.

Who can apply

GOV.UK’s guide, Moving your parish council to a .gov.uk domain (opens in a new tab), says parish councils are eligible, and that the guide applies to England. A town council is a parish council that uses the title of town, so the same route is the one to read. The page Get permission to apply for a .gov.uk domain name (opens in a new tab) says the Domains Team accepts an application from the clerk of a parish or community council, and that those clerks do not need a separate written permission template.

Get the decision into the minutes anyway. GOV.UK asks the council to approve the move at a formal meeting, so the decision is on the record. That approval is for the council. It is not the same document as the permission template used by other public bodies.

The clerk is the registrant. That means the clerk is accountable for the domain and for following the rules, including keeping the contact details up to date. A supplier, including us, can help. The supplier is not the registrant. If you are a town council and you are unsure whether the clerk route applies exactly as written, ask the registrar, or email parish.helper@domains.gov.uk, before you assume. That address is the one GOV.UK publishes for parish questions.

Choose a name that says who you are

The rules are on Choose your .gov.uk domain name (opens in a new tab). The name has to be available, descriptive, and hard to confuse with another public body. It is between 3 and 63 characters, using letters, numbers and hyphens. It should not include a postcode, and it should not use abbreviations such as ltd.

GOV.UK’s own examples are the clearest guide. A parish might use bonbyparishcouncil.gov.uk, bonbyparish.gov.uk or bonby-pc.gov.uk. A town might use biggleswadetowncouncil.gov.uk, biggleswadetown.gov.uk or biggleswade-tc.gov.uk. If you want an abbreviation, the naming rules say it needs to be obvious, and applications that rely on one can need extra approval. When in doubt, use the full council name. Residents search for the place, not your initials.

We will help you check the name reads clearly and does not clash with a neighbouring council. We cannot promise the Domains Team will accept it. If a name is refused, there is an appeal route on GOV.UK. Read that page if you get there. Do not keep resubmitting small spelling changes in the hope one slips through.

What the registrar does, and what we do

Only an approved registrar can apply for the name, keep it on the internet, and deal with the registry. Krystal does that work when a council asks us to coordinate it. Our domain and email page says the same thing in shorter form.

A typical sequence looks like this:

• The council minutes the decision to apply.
• The clerk, as registrant, asks an approved registrar to apply. If you are working with us, we prepare the detail with you and Krystal submits it.
• The Domains Team checks eligibility and the name. We do not sit on that decision.
• When the name is granted, DNS is pointed at the website. If we host the site, we set those website records.
• Email is a separate service. Mailbox licences and day-to-day mailbox administration are charged separately from the website fee. The terms say so, and the pricing page lists them under what is not included.

GOV.UK’s parish guide says the clerk should have a role address, and that permanent staff and councillors should use individual .gov.uk mailboxes rather than free personal accounts. That is their guidance, for professionalism, freedom of information, and so that access can be removed when someone leaves. It is not a line in our website fee. Budget for the mailboxes with the registrar or the email provider you choose. Microsoft 365 is one option. It is not the only one.

Do not cancel the old email on the day the new domain is granted. Set the new mailboxes up, send a test, and only then tell correspondents. Website DNS and mail DNS are different records. Changing the website must not be the moment the clerk stops receiving planning letters. The switch page describes how we keep the current site online while this is arranged.

After the name is live

Keep the old web address redirecting for a while, if you still control it, so old agendas and search results land on the new site. Tell the principal authority, your bank, and the bodies that email the clerk. Put the new address on the footer of the next agenda.

The registrant has to follow the Cabinet Office rules for as long as the domain is held. GOV.UK can withdraw a name. Keep the registrant’s contact details current, including when the clerk changes. That handover is a council task. We can remind you. We cannot be the registrant in the clerk’s place.

Prices for the domain itself are set by the registrar, on top of what the registry charges them. We do not publish a domain fee, because it is not our charge. Ask Krystal, or whichever approved registrar you choose, for the current registration and renewal cost before the council votes.

If you want us to look at the address you use today, and whether the site already mentions a .gov.uk domain, use the free website check. It is a look at the public site, not an application and not legal advice.