What are the savings in using plain English?
National governments, councils, multinational corporations, major industry bodies and so on have adopted the plain English model for sound, commercial reasons plain English saves time and money. The savings claimed for plain English are remarkable: • The US Navy estimated plain English could save it between $250$300 million every year. • General Electric saved $275,000 by redrafting manuals into plain English. • The US Department of Veterans Affairs saved $40,000 redrafting one standard letter into plain English. • Customers in three surveys of standard letters from banks unanimously preferred the plain English versions. • British Telecom cut customer queries by 25 percent by using plain English. • The Royal Mail saved 500,000 in nine months by redesigning one form in plain English. • UK businesses lose 6 billion a year because of badly written letters. • A UK Government Plain English initiative saved 9 million in printing costs. These savings come from organizations training key staff
