Overriding the phase banner

The GOV.UK phase banner is included by default in the layout templates and displays a Beta label. You can override this to display Alpha instead, or customise the banner content.

Switching between Alpha and Beta

To change the phase, update the include statement in your layout templates.

Find this line:

{% include 'DfE/Content/PhaseBanner/Beta' %}

Replace it with:

{% include 'DfE/Content/PhaseBanner/Alpha' %}

Make this change in both layout templates:

  • DfE/Layouts/2ColumnWideLeft
  • DfE/Layouts/1Column

Removing the phase banner

If your service is live and no longer in Alpha or Beta, you can remove the phase banner entirely.

Delete this line from both layout templates:

{% include 'DfE/Content/PhaseBanner/Beta' %}

Customising the banner content

To modify the banner message or feedback link, edit the phase banner web template directly:

  • DfE/Content/PhaseBanner/Beta
  • DfE/Content/PhaseBanner/Alpha
The phase banner is part of the layout and should be consistent throughout your site. Once the layout is updated, the correct phase banner is applied to every page automatically.

For further details on how the phase banner should be used, refer to the GOV.UK Design System phase banner guidance (opens in a new tab).