GOV.UK GOV.UK blogs Accessibility statement This accessibility statement relates only to blogs on GOV.UK. Blogs on GOV.UK are run by the Government Digital Service (GDS), part of the Cabinet Office. The blogs platform is provided by GDS on behalf of government departments. The departments (for example the Department of Health and Social Care) publish the content on the blogs. 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: a number of images do not have appropriate alt text the YouTube video player has accessibility issues with contrast and tooltips What to do if you cannot access parts of this website Get content in other formats You can get GOV.UK pages and documents in different formats, including: audio CD braille British Sign Language (BSL) large print Contact GOV.UK. Add the web address (URL) of the page the content’s on. Describe the format you need, for example audio CD, braille, BSL or large print. Enter your name and email address. We’ll aim to reply within 2 working days. Reporting accessibility problems with this website We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us by doing the following: Contact GOV.UK. Add the web address (URL) of the page the content’s on or choose the whole site. Let us know your issue. Enter your name and email address if you want a response, or leave this blank if you want to remain anonymous. If you request a response, we'll aim to reply within 2 working days. 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. 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 The video controls do not have enough contrast. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). This is an issue with the YouTube video player and not within the control of GDS. We will continue to look for a more compliant player. Some video controls have a tooltip which does not stay open when moving the cursor to them. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.4.13 (content on hover or focus). This is an issue with the YouTube video player and not within the control of GDS. We will continue to look for a more compliant player. The page titles do not specifically refer to blogs. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 2.4.2 (page titles). We are working on fixing this issue. Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations Some blogs have uploaded files in PDF or Word formats. Older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured to be accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2. We plan to either remove these or replace them with accessible HTML pages in due course. 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. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not apply to pre-recorded time-based media published before 23rd September 2020 - this includes videos on the page. How we tested this website This website was last tested in August 2019. The test was carried out by accessibility staff in GDS. We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test: we looked at any blogs published since September 2018 We tested the following blogs: Civil Service Fast Stream Technology in the NHS Forestry Commission Brexit Facts As all blogs are based on the same platform and template, they have not been tested individually but some samples have been selected from all of them: 1 blog homepage, 3 blog posts with various degrees of complexities (videos, graphs, comments), 1 search results page and 1 subscribe page with a form. Blog homepage: Civil Service Fast Stream Blog post: Join the digital transformation team at NHSX Blog post: Ethics is our competitive advantage… Blog post: Why you should apply for the HS2 Woodland Fund… Search results: tree Subscribe This statement was prepared on 10th September 2019. It was last updated on 17 September 2020. 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