Methodology

How a rating is decided

A promise on this site is a political commitment made by somebody who is now in office. We source each one from a cited document, assess progress against public evidence, and publish the rating with the date it was reviewed.

Nothing is rated by the person who made the promise, and nothing is rated by a public vote.

In short

01A commitment is found in a cited document and recorded with its deadline.
02It is published at Unstarted with at least one source.
03An editor reviews it against public evidence and moves the rating when the evidence moves.
04Every change is logged with its date, its cause and the source that prompted it.

The six ratings, and what each one requires

Promise kept

two ratings

CompletedThe promise is mostly or completely fulfilled.Evidence of delivery
In ProgressThe promise is in the works or being considered.Evidence of activity

Uncertain

two ratings

UnstartedEvery promise begins here and stays here until there is evidence of progress or proof it has been shelved.The default. No deadline needed
InconclusiveThe promise is accomplished only in part, but has succeeded at least in part consistently with its goal.Partial delivery

Promise not kept

two ratings, both of which need a deadline

Behind ScheduleNo progress, perhaps due to financial limits, opposition from lawmakers or a change in priorities.Deadline required
StalledInaction by the administration, or lack of support from the legislature.Deadline required

What we will and will not do

Labels can change, definitions cannot

Renaming Completed to Delivered changes no claim about anybody. Editing a definition changes what the site asserts about every promise already carrying that rating, so moving where the line falls is a re-rating and shows in the log.

We do not rate candidates

An entity appears once it has won and taken office, with its campaign promises alongside it. Before that there is nothing to hold anyone to.

We do not rate ministries or agencies

They are often the body doing the work, but nobody elected them. The question this site answers is the one put to voters: you asked for our votes on these terms, what happened.

A promise needs one source to publish

Cited, and openable by the reader. A promise we cannot source is one we do not carry, however widely it was reported.

Small numbers get no percentage

One kept out of three is not thirty three per cent of anything. Below the threshold we publish counts, because a misleading figure about a named politician is the kind of mistake that costs a fact-checking organisation its credibility.

You send it in, an editor decides

Anyone can submit evidence, a correction or a note that something has changed. Nothing a visitor sends changes a rating on its own, and every change that results is logged like any other.