Keeping the Resource Shelf Tidy: A Quarterly Review Discipline for UK Firm Link Pages
Photo: office intranet resource links audit laptop checklist, via officebanao.com
Resource pages age quietly. A link that worked in 2023 still sits under useful guidance; a PDF from an old regime remains beside the current one; a partner's profile page points to a practice area the firm no longer offers. None of this looks urgent. That is the problem. A stale resource page is a quiet credibility risk, and the longer it is left, the more it looks like a clean-up project rather than a maintenance task.
Treat the links page as a controlled document
A resource page is not decoration. It is a published statement about what the firm considers useful, current and authoritative. If it carries no owner, no review date and no rule for removal, it is not a resource. It is clutter with a URL.
The practical answer is to manage the page as a controlled document. That means a named owner, a version or review date, a simple status for each link, and a routine that happens often enough to prevent rot. Quarterly is usually right for UK professional firms: frequent enough to catch moved guidance, infrequent enough to be realistic.
The 45-minute quarterly routine
Set a timer and work through five passes. The routine should be repeatable by an administrator, not dependent on a partner's memory.
Minutes 0-5: Export the list. Pull every link and resource entry into a spreadsheet or CMS view. Include the page title, URL, owner, last-reviewed date and status. If the page is small, a printed list is fine. The point is to work from an inventory, not from memory.
Minutes 5-15: Test the links. Click each one, or use a link checker for the bulk pass. Record broken links, redirects to unexpected pages and pages that now require a login. A redirect is not always a failure, but an unexplained redirect is a maintenance flag.
Minutes 15-25: Check for superseded guidance. Compare each entry with the current source. Look for replaced guidance, withdrawn forms, closed consultation pages and new versions of standards. A link that still resolves but points to superseded material is more dangerous than a dead link because it looks current.
Minutes 25-35: Confirm ownership and review dates. Every entry needs a named owner and a last-reviewed date. If an entry has no owner, it defaults to archive unless someone claims it in the review. Visible dates are useful for readers; internal dates are essential for maintenance.
Minutes 35-40: Apply the keep, update or archive rule. Make a decision on every entry and record it. Do not leave items in a maybe pile; that is how the next quarterly review becomes a two-hour task.
Minutes 40-45: Log changes and schedule the next review. Record what was removed, what was updated and what needs a follow-up. Put the next review in the team calendar before closing the document.
A simple keep, update, archive rule
The rule should be blunt enough to use without debate.
- Keep: the link is current, relevant to the firm's audience, owned by a named person and reviewed within the agreed cycle.
- Update: the resource is still relevant but the URL has moved, the description is out of date, the owner has changed or the review date has lapsed.
- Archive: the guidance is superseded, the page is duplicated, the link is dead with no replacement, the owner cannot be identified, or the resource no longer supports the firm's service lines.
Archive is not the same as delete. Move superseded items to an archive list with a note of why and when they were removed. That record protects the firm if a reader asks why a resource disappeared, and it stops the same dead link being reintroduced later.
Ownership and last-reviewed dates
Every link should have an owner. In practice, that means a role rather than a person: employment law team, tax technical lead, operations manager. Roles survive staff changes better than names. The owner is responsible for confirming that the resource is still accurate and appropriate for the page's audience.
The last-reviewed date should be visible to readers where the page presents guidance, and recorded internally even where it is not. A resource page without a date invites the reader to assume the worst: that nobody has looked at it since it was published. That assumption may be unfair, but it is rational.
Make it a calendar habit, not a clean-up project
The most common failure is to treat link maintenance as an annual tidy-up. Annual reviews produce a long list, a rushed afternoon and a temptation to delete everything. Quarterly reviews produce small, recorded decisions.
Add the review to the same calendar that holds other recurring operational checks. Give it a deputy owner so that leave or turnover does not break the cycle. Keep a simple log: date, reviewer, number of links checked, number archived, number updated and any follow-ups. After two or three cycles, the firm will have a useful baseline and a page that can be defended.
A resource page is part of the firm's published voice. It should be maintained with the same discipline as a fee-earner's profile, a regulatory notice or a client newsletter. The quarterly routine is not glamorous, but it is the difference between a useful links page and a quiet liability.
