We want everyone who uses our website to be able to find, read and understand our content.
We create content to meet the accessibility standards outline in this statement. All content we create is compatible with assistive technology.
View the site your way
You can change the colours, contrast levels, font styles and magnify the page to 400% or more without the text spilling off the screen.
Navigation
Navigating by headings
Use browser plugins or assistive technology such as screen readers to list the headings and subheadings in the page and go straight to the heading you need.
Navigating by links
Users of assistive technology such as screen readers can get a list of all the links on a page and understand their purpose from the link text.
Navigating by keyboard
Users navigating by keyboard can see the currently focused on interactive element, such as links and form fields through a highlighted outline.
Skip to content:
Use a keyboard to find the skip links and jump directly to the main content on the page.
Listening to content
Use text to speech browser plugins or assistive technology to listen to content you select with the mouse or keyboard.
Screen reader users can both listen to the content and navigate around through the site pages and menus.
Tools and plugins to help your online experience
Explore some of our recommendations for tools that can make your online experience better.
Using different devices
Alternative formats
We’ve designed our content to be as accessible as possible. If you still experience barriers, contact us to request alternative format documents.
Web Standards
Our website is developed using valid HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript to the standards laid out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) – Level AA.
The website content works with assistive technologies that visitors might use. For example, screen readers or text only browsers.
Auditing
We undertake formal accessibility audits of the website on a yearly basis using WCAG 2.1 AA standards which guide our long term audit and improvement plans.
For more information about our commitment to compliance and how we check and maintain the accessibility of the website read our Technical accessibility statement.
What we do about known issues
We work to achieve and maintain WCAG 2.1 AA standards, but it is not always possible for all our content to be accessible. Where content is likely to create a barrier, we’ll state a reason, warn users and offer alternatives – see our Known issues page for more details. If we have failed to identify a barrier, please contact us.
3rd party content
Our site includes 3rd party content: This may direct you to a related service, a partner we work with, or supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of 3rd party content.
Depending on our relationship with the 3rd party, we cannot always guarantee its accessibility. Your feedback counts: please tell us if you have any problems, or if you find anything particularly useful.
Links to other websites
We link to other websites that may offer benefit to our users. This may include:
- news websites
- social media platforms
- official information sources, such as GOV.UK or NHS.UK.
We are not responsible for the accessibility of these or any other websites we do not manage.
Using 3rd party content or functionality on our website
We sometimes feature 3rd party content or functionality on our website. This may include:
- survey tools to collect feedback from users
- insight tools which tell us how people are using the website
- content from social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter
- video which is hosted on platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo
- applications for creating forms and storing data
Where we choose to feature 3rd party content or functionality on our website, we are responsible for ensuring it meets accessibility standards. If we have paid for content to be created, or have a contractual relationship with the commissioner, we ensure accessibility guidelines are met as part of contractual obligations.
Where we are legally required to feature 3rd party content or functionality, we cannot reasonably accept responsibility for ensuring it meets accessibility standards. However, where it is within our control, we will make every reasonable effort to work towards meeting accessibility requirements
Our website has some downloadable resources including Word documents and PDFs: Read about the accessibility of downloadable content.
Contacting us and what happens next
Please contact us if you have any problems; be as specific and detailed as you can. Please also tell us what you like and find useful. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has useful tips on contacting organisations about inaccessible websites.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Last update
This statement was last updated on 29/07/2019. We update this statement annually and will next review it in July 2020.