Who publishes this and who is accountable
SPF Guide is published by Northbank Media. Editorial control sits with the SPF Guide desk, and the publisher is accountable for everything that appears here. There is no advertiser, sponsor, retailer, brand or trade body with any say over what is scored, how it is scored or when a score changes. Nobody outside the desk sees a review before it is published.
Corrections, disagreements and requests for the working behind a number go to the address on the contact page. Every message is read by a person.
What this title covers, and what it refuses
The subject is sun protection as a consumer decision: what a UK pack is permitted to say, what the numbers on it were tested to mean, and which formulation category suits which use. That is the whole territory.
- We score formulation categories, never a named product, brand or retailer.
- We do not run laboratory testing, so we never present a figure as though we measured it.
- We do not publish "best product" lists, because a list of that kind rests on manufacturer claims and a writer's impression of texture.
- We do not give medical advice. Where a question is clinical, we say so and point at the body that answers it.
- We name no clinic, practitioner or venue anywhere on this site.
Sourcing and evidence
Every factual claim on this site is traceable to a published source that a reader can reach without paying for it. In practice that means four kinds of material, in this order of preference:
- Standards and regulation. The published international test methods for SPF, UVA and water resistance, and the UK permitted filter list with its concentration limits.
- Scientific committee opinions. Safety assessments of individual filters, which are dated documents and are cited with their dates.
- Peer reviewed literature, cited for what its design can actually support. A small single arm study is described as one, not as evidence of effect.
- Public health guidance from the NHS, the British Association of Dermatologists, Cancer Research UK, the British Skin Foundation and the World Health Organization.
We cite the body rather than a blog that summarised the body. Where the evidence is thin or contested, the page says it is thin or contested instead of rounding it into a recommendation. Where a number carries a unit or a condition, both travel with it.
How a score is produced and when it changes
Scores come from the five weighted criteria set out in full on the scoring method page, applied identically to every category. The bands and the weights are published so that any reader can reproduce a score or argue with it. A score changes when the standard, the permitted filter list or the underlying evidence changes, and the page then carries a revised review date saying what moved.
Accuracy, revision and corrections
Pages carry a review date, and that date means a person went through the page against current guidance on that day. We do not refresh a date to look current. If a page has not been checked, its date stays where it is.
When something is wrong we correct the page itself rather than quietly deleting it, and a material correction is noted on the page. Anyone can report an error, including a manufacturer whose category we have described. A correction is made because it is correct, and for no other reason.
Funding and independence
This site takes no affiliate commission on sunscreen sales, accepts no samples, and sells no placement of any kind. There is nothing on this site a company could buy, and no arrangement exists that would be disclosed if it did. Should that ever change, it will be stated on this page before it appears anywhere else, and the rule that survives any change is that no commercial arrangement will ever move a score.
Use of AI tools
AI tools are used in research and drafting. Every published page is reviewed by a person who is accountable for it, and no claim reaches publication because a model asserted it. Sources are checked against the source.
What this page does not cover
This is a statement of editorial practice, not a privacy notice and not terms of use. It does not describe how the newsletter list is handled, which is set out where you subscribe.