Use UK cover letter examples to write your own letter

Updated 30 October 2026

The layout of a UK covering letter

1. Contact details: Put your name, email address and phone number at the top. Add your postal address if requested.
2. Date and recipient: Include the date and the recipient’s details if you have them.
3. Subject: Give the job title and any reference number.
4. Salutation: Address the recipient by name if possible.
5. Letter: Open with a relevant fact, add supporting evidence and ask for an interview.
6. Closing: Use an appropriate sign-off and add your name.

A UK cover letter template to fill in

Replace the brackets with facts you can explain at interview. If you cannot find the recipient’s name, use “Dear Sir or Madam” and close with “Yours faithfully”.

By job

• A cover letter for care assistant roles in residential care

  Use this cover letter for care assistant roles as a guide to presenting residential care experience, qualifications and practical skills.

• Customer service cover letter example for an adviser

  See a customer service cover letter for a contact centre adviser, with practical guidance on complaints, customer records and tailoring your application.

• How to write a healthcare assistant cover letter for a hospital ward

  Use this healthcare assistant cover letter example to show ward care, observations and record keeping, with practical advice for an NHS application.

• A receptionist cover letter for a GP surgery or office

  Use this receptionist cover letter example to show appointment booking, patient confidentiality and telephone skills for a GP surgery or office role.

• A retail cover letter example for a shop assistant

  Use this retail cover letter example to show customer service, till and stock experience, with practical tips for applying to high-street shops.

• Support worker cover letter for adults with learning disabilities

  See a support worker cover letter for adult learning disability services, with guidance on care tasks, safeguarding and adapting the example to your experience.

• Teacher cover letter for a secondary science post

  See a teacher cover letter for a secondary science post and learn how to present QTS, practical teaching, assessment and safeguarding experience.

• Teaching assistant cover letter for a primary school

  See a teaching assistant cover letter for a primary school, with guidance on phonics, safeguarding and adapting the example to your own experience.

By situation

• How to write an apprenticeship cover letter as a school leaver

  Use this apprenticeship cover letter example to present your school and work experience when applying for a Level 3 business administration role in the UK.

• An internship cover letter for a marketing student

  Read an internship cover letter example for a marketing student, with practical advice on presenting university, social media and café experience.

How to adapt UK cover letter examples

Start with an example that resembles the kind of application you are making. Notice how it introduces a relevant achievement and develops it in the next paragraph. Keep that structure if it helps, then replace the example’s details with your own evidence.

Read the vacancy carefully and identify work you can discuss from experience. For an office role, you might have maintained records or arranged appointments. Write down what you did, where you did it and any outcome you can verify. A precise account helps the reader understand your contribution.

Paid employment is only one source of evidence. A course project may show how you researched a topic, while volunteering may have involved helping members of the public. Name the setting so the employer can understand the scope of your experience. If you are changing careers, explain a task from your previous work that relates to the new role.

Check the job title and organisation’s name before sending. Compare your letter with your CV so that dates and responsibilities agree. Use the letter to add context to a selected experience rather than repeating every entry.

Common mistakes in a covering letter

Copying a sample too closely can leave another employer’s name in the text or suggest that you have done work you cannot explain. Read every sentence as a claim about your own experience. Remove anything you cannot support, even if it sounds impressive.

General statements can also take up space without helping the reader. Instead of describing yourself as organised, explain how you kept a booking system up to date or managed a deadline. Use a result when you know it; an invented figure will weaken the application.

Keep the opening focused on evidence. A long account of your career ambitions may delay the information the employer needs to assess your application. Put a relevant fact first and name the role, then use the next paragraph to develop other evidence.

Finally, check the salutation against the closing. In a formal UK letter, “Yours sincerely” follows a named recipient. “Yours faithfully” is customary after “Dear Sir or Madam”. Proofread the employer’s name and check that your contact details are correct.

When to send a letter or an email

Follow the application instructions first. If the employer asks for a covering letter, provide it in the format requested. An online form may offer a text box or a separate upload field. Check both the vacancy and the form before submitting.

If an employer asks you to apply by email and does not specify a letter, a short message can introduce your application. Put the job title in the subject line. In the message, give one relevant piece of evidence and mention your attached CV. Check that the attachment is present and opens correctly.

When a separate letter is requested with an email application, attach it as instructed. The email itself can be brief: identify the role and say which documents you have attached. The reader can then turn to the letter for your evidence.

For an approach to an organisation without an advertised vacancy, explain the type of work you are interested in and include a relevant fact about your experience. Where possible, address someone responsible for that area and ask whether suitable opportunities are available.

Write with UK cover letter examples more efficiently

Keep a private collection of experiences you may want to use in applications. Record the setting and the action you took, along with any outcome you can substantiate. Notes from past projects or performance reviews can help you recall details accurately.

For each vacancy, select the evidence that relates most closely to the work. Put your strongest relevant fact in the opening paragraph and name the job. Use the next paragraph for further evidence, then ask for an interview. The template above gives you space for each part.

Reusing your notes is useful, but check each letter against the particular vacancy. A detail that helped explain your experience for one role may be less relevant to another. Update the organisation’s name and remove material that no longer serves the application.

CV Ajuste can help tailor your CV and draft a letter from your own facts. Review the draft against your source material before sending it. Save the final document with a clear file name, open it once more and read it aloud to catch awkward wording.