We're committed to making our websites accessible so they can be used by as many people as possible. .

We aim to make our websites accessible to the widest possible audience. This means, for example, that you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of our websites using a keyboard
navigate most of our websites using speech recognition software
listen to most of our websites using a screen reader

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have additional access needs.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

To make our websites accessible, we:

integrate accessibility into our procurement procedures
provide accessibility training for our staff
include individuals with disabilities in our design personas  

How accessible are our websites?

Parts of our websites are not fully accessible. For example, we've found the following issues on some of our websites:

some header structure and page IDs are not optimised for screen reader use
some images lack alternative text and some images are used as links
broken links
missing or unclear page descriptions
missing labels in form fields
non-accessible pdfs
non-optimal image types

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format please email and tell us: 

the web address (URL) of the content that you need
your contact name and email address
the type of format you need 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or if you think we're not meeting the accessibility requirements, email to report this.

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you're not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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'). 

Technical information about this website's accessibility

UK Parliament is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. 

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible, for the following reasons.

some header structure and page IDs are not optimised for screen reader use
there is a lack of alternative text on some images and some images are used as links
missing or unclear page descriptions 
missing labels in some form fields

We've prioritised our websites based on analytics and data. We're working with our content and development teams to identify the above instances, where these issues exist & how to fix them.

Disproportionate burden

The following has been identified as Disproportionate Burden for 2020 and will be reviewed yearly.

adding subtitles to existing media created before 2018
adding accessibility features to existing interactive media created before 2018
identified low traffic micro sites and content, due to the prioritisation of key content across our sites
committee written evidence submissions from the public. Efforts will be made to ensure that these pdfs are made as accessible as possible via automated means. HTML versions of the evidence are also present on the site
updating some pdfs created after 2018, this being an ongoing project based on access metrics and internal content prioritisation. This is due to the very large amount of pdfs we've published

PDFs and other documents

Many of our existing pdfs and Word and other Office file format documents are essential to providing our services. 

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix pdfs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services.

We're in the process of updating our pdf library to fix our three most common accessibility fails listed below.

tab Order Not Specified
language Not Set
title Not Set

Any new pdf, HTML or Office file format documents we publish will aim to meet accessibility standards.

How we tested this website

Our websites were and are currently being tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA using a combination of automated tools for accessibility WCAG 2.0 standards. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7 May 2022. 

This website is being tested via a combination of accessibility tools throughout May 2022.