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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the GOV.UK developer documentation at https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/.

This website is run by the GOV.UK developer team at the Government Digital Service (GDS). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means 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 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 website text as simple as possible to understand.

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

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • some links are broken.
  • some headings do not fit with the content that follows.
  • some links do not clearly explain where they lead, or that they lead to external sites.
  • some pages skip heading levels.
  • some images do not have good alternative text, or have no alternative text.
  • some content uses emojis without alternative text.
  • there are some links to documents in PDF format that are not accessible.

There are also issues caused by our Technical Documentation Template.

Feedback and contact information

If you need any part of this service in a different format like large print, audio recording or braille, contact us using the GOV.UK contact form.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us using the GOV.UK contact form.

Enforcement procedure

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

GDS 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some parts of this website are not fully accessible because of issues caused by our Technical Documentation Template.

Additionally:

  • some links are broken, which fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard.
  • some content uses emojis without alternative text, which fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 Non-text Content.
  • some headings do not fit with the content that follows, which fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6 Headings and Labels.
  • some links do not clearly explain where they lead, or that they lead to external sites. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).
  • some pages skip heading levels, which fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships, 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels.
  • some images do not have good alternative text or are missing alternative text, which fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to fix the accessibility issues in the content by the end of September 2021.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 2 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 30 June 2021.

This website was last tested in August 2020. The test was carried out by the technical writing team at GDS. We used the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool and a checklist we created with the help of the GDS accessibility team. We tested a sample of pages from each section of the site.