A business letter is any letter you write in a formal capacity: to a company, a council, a landlord, a school, a solicitor, or an organisation you have no personal relationship with. The layout below is the standard UK block format. Copy the template into your word processor, replace everything in square brackets, and delete these notes before you print or attach it.
The template
The plain-text template shows the blocks in order. In your document, right-align your own address block and the date; everything else sits on the left.
[Your house number and street] [Your town or city] [Your postcode] [Your email address or phone number, optional] [Date, written in full: 3 March 2026] [Name and job title of the person you are writing to, if known] [Company or organisation name] [Their street address] [Their town or city] [Their postcode] Dear [Mr Patel / Ms Okafor / Dr Lee, or "Sir or Madam" if you do not know the name], [Opening paragraph: say in one or two sentences why you are writing and, if there is one, the reference number, account number or order number.] [Middle paragraph or paragraphs: the facts, in the order they happened. One point per paragraph. Dates, amounts and names where they matter.] [Closing paragraph: say exactly what you want to happen next and by when. Thank the reader for their time.] Yours sincerely, [if you used a name] Yours faithfully, [if you wrote "Dear Sir or Madam"] [Your signature, if posting] [Your name, printed] [Your job title, if writing on behalf of an organisation]
How each part works
Your address
Your own address goes at the top right, one line per element, with no name above it. If you are emailing the letter as an attachment, keep the address anyway: it tells the reader where to send a reply by post and it makes the document complete on its own. You can add an email address or phone number on the line below the postcode so the reader has a quicker way to respond.
The date
Leave a blank line after your address and write the date in full on the left: 3 March 2026, not 03/03/26, which reads differently in different countries. The date tells the reader how long they have had your letter, which matters if you later need to show that you complained within a deadline.
The recipient’s address
The name, job title and address of the person you are writing to go on the left, below the date. Use a named person whenever you can find one. A letter addressed to “The Customer Services Manager” lands on a pile; a letter addressed to a person lands on a desk. Company websites, LinkedIn and a short phone call to reception are the usual ways to find a name.
The greeting
If you have a name, use it with a title and surname: Dear Mr Patel, Dear Ms Okafor, Dear Dr Lee. Use Ms for a woman unless you know she prefers Mrs or Miss. If the person’s name does not tell you their gender, use the full name: Dear Sam Taylor. If you have no name at all, write Dear Sir or Madam. The old form “Dear Sirs” is no longer used.
The opening paragraph
Get to the point in the first sentence. “I am writing to ask for a refund for order 48213, delivered on 12 February.” The reader should know what the letter is about before they reach the second line. Put any reference numbers here so they can pull up your file.
The middle
Tell the story in order, one point per paragraph. Give dates, names of people you spoke to, amounts of money and what was agreed. Keep opinions out of this section and let the facts do the work. If you are enclosing documents, say so: “I enclose a copy of the receipt and the email from your colleague.”
The closing paragraph
Say what you want and when. “Please refund the £84.99 to my card within 14 days.” A letter that does not ask for anything specific usually gets a vague reply. End politely: “Thank you for your help” or “I look forward to hearing from you.”
The sign-off
The rule is simple. If you addressed the person by name, close with Yours sincerely. If you wrote Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully. Leave four or five blank lines for a handwritten signature if you are posting the letter, then print your name underneath. If you are writing for a business, add your job title on the next line.
Before you send it
- Read it aloud once. Sentences that are hard to say are hard to read.
- Check every name, date, amount and reference number against the original documents.
- Keep it to one page where you can. Two pages is the most a business letter should ever need.
- Use a plain font at 11 or 12 point, with a blank line between paragraphs and no indents.
- Keep a copy. If you post it, consider a signed-for service for anything that matters.
Related guides
For the conventions behind this layout, see Formal Letter Format. If the letter is a complaint, the Complaint Letter Template has the same layout with the wording filled in. For a job application, use the Cover Letter Template instead, and for anything personal the Personal Letter Template.