diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 5411680f6b89c35b7bd8f50ebe2b87a361d9014e..04d8c2ef11287347561a4d00ad55b8a70b2bdd37 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ stages:
 checks:
   stage: check
   only: [merge_requests]
+  allow_failure: true
   script:
     - export PATH=/home/gitlab-runner/.local/bin:$PATH
     # We'd like to run the pre-commit hooks only on files that are being
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 8064819d434ecde8a0f393653dd1d231f1a93b3d..08a185db233da2e85dd5b654f1edc1b76f4f1171 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -170,6 +170,21 @@ files then you should **rebase onto the target branch** to prevent the checks
 from running on the wrong files/diffs.
 
 
+Skipping Checks
+---------------
+
+If the checks are failing and you want to ignore them on purpose then you have two options:
+
+- use the ``--no-verify`` flag on your ``git commit`` command to skip them, e.g. ``git commit -m "Commit skipping hooks" --no-verify``
+- use the variable ``SKIP=hooks,to,skip`` before the git commit command to list hooks to skip, e.g. ``SKIP=flake8,isort git commit -m "Commit skipping only flake8 and isort hooks"``
+
+In the CI pipeline the pre-commit check stage has ``allow_failure: true`` set so
+that it is possible to ignore errors in the checks, and so that subsequent
+stages will still run even if the checks have failed. However there should be a
+good reason for allowing the checks to fail, e.g. checks failing due to
+unmodified sections of code being looked at.
+
+
 Python Scripted Calibration
 ***************************
 
diff --git a/webservice/serve_overview.py b/webservice/serve_overview.py
index b8c6c5593a8a385a9ed044d9d85031e822f18f4b..347539f60dbbf9ba962ae5f94e477d5fc90a34e6 100644
--- a/webservice/serve_overview.py
+++ b/webservice/serve_overview.py
@@ -6,14 +6,13 @@ from collections import OrderedDict
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
 from subprocess import check_output
+from xfel_calibrate.settings import (free_nodes_cmd, preempt_nodes_cmd,
+                                     reservation)
 from uuid import uuid4
 
 import yaml
 from jinja2 import Template
 
-from xfel_calibrate.settings import (free_nodes_cmd, preempt_nodes_cmd,
-                                     reservation)
-
 
 class LimitedSizeDict(OrderedDict):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):