Accessibility

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts

• zoom in up to your browser maximum without the text spilling off the screen

• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard

• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software

• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the writing as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

If you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format, like an accessible PDF, large print or audio recording, contact us.

Reporting accessibility problems 

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or if you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

This website complies partially with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The parts that don’t comply are listed below.

Non-accessible content

• Some icons and links are too small https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#target-size
• Some heading levels aren't correct https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#info-and-relationships
• Some links do not describe their purpose https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#link-purpose-link-only
• Some controls lack keyboard focus https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#concurrent-input-mechanisms
• Some elements have insufficient colour contrast https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#contrast-enhanced
• Some form fields are not correctly labelled https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#identify-input-purpose
• Some links appear as prose when they should be a list https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#info-and-relationships
• Some controls lack proper indication navigating using the keyboard https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#focus-visible

Forms

Our forms are built and hosted through third-party software. We have limited control over the code of these forms and their level of accessibility conformance may vary, particularly in relation to WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

We’ve assessed the cost of building these forms in house and believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden according to the accessibility regulations. However, we have made the supplier aware of their accessibility issues and they have committed to fixing them where possible.

How we tested this website

We commissioned Tetralogical to conduct an accessibility audit of this website in June 2021. They discovered:

• 50 low severity issues, 11 of which have been fixed.
• 64 medium severity issues, 34 of which have been fixed.
• 15 high severity issues, 12 of which have been fixed.
• 3 critical severity issues, all of which have been fixed.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We work continuously to fix all remaining accessibility issues, with a focus on the highest severity.

This statement was prepared in December 2019, and updated in February 2022.