This site is meant to be readable by anybody who wants to read it, including people using a screen reader, a keyboard rather than a mouse, a magnifier, or a phone in bright sunlight. This page sets out what has been done toward that, what we know is not perfect, and how to tell us if something here does not work for you.
What we are aiming at
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, level AA.
That is the standard commonly used for public facing websites in the United Kingdom, and it is what this site has been built and checked against.
Why it matters on a site like this
Because it is mostly text.
Four hundred pages of explanation are only useful if they can be read, and a site that is difficult to navigate defeats the point of having written them.
Headings
Used in order, and used for structure.
Every page has one main heading and a properly nested set beneath it, so a screen reader user can move through a page by its sections rather than reading it end to end.
Why that is the biggest single thing
Because these pages are long.
A page with twenty sections is navigable by heading and unbearable without, and that is exactly how somebody using assistive technology would move through it.
Links
Described by their own text.
Links say where they go rather than saying click here, so a list of links read out of context still tells you what each one is.
Images
Given alternative text that describes them.
Photographs of roofs and details carry a description of what they show, and decorative images are marked so they are skipped rather than announced.
Colour
Not used alone to carry meaning.
Anything indicated by colour is also indicated some other way, so information is not lost to somebody who does not distinguish those colours.
Contrast
Checked against the standard.
Text and background combinations are tested to meet the contrast ratios the guidelines set, which matters as much on a phone outdoors as it does for low vision.
Text size
Resizes without breaking.
The pages are built so that enlarging the text in a browser reflows the content rather than causing it to overlap or disappear.
Keyboard use
Everything reachable without a mouse.
Navigation, links and any form control can be reached and operated by keyboard, and the focus position is visible as you move.
Skipping the navigation
Provided, because these pages are long.
A way to move straight to the main content saves a keyboard or screen reader user from passing the whole menu on every page.
Zoom on a phone
Not disabled.
Pinch zoom works, because disabling it is a common and unnecessary thing for a website to do and it makes a site unusable for some people.
Motion
Kept minimal.
There is nothing that moves, flashes or plays automatically, which avoids a category of problem entirely rather than mitigating it.
Language
Written to be understood.
Technical terms are explained where they appear rather than assumed, which helps everybody and not only people using assistive technology.
Tables
Used for data, with proper headers.
Where a table appears it is a real table with header cells, so it can be read by a screen reader rather than being a layout device.
Documents
Information is on the pages themselves.
Nothing important is locked inside a downloadable document, which is a common accessibility failure and an easy one to avoid.
What we know is not perfect
Some of the older images.
Alternative text on a site of this size is a continuing job rather than a finished one, and some descriptions are less useful than others.
Third party content
Where it exists, we control it less.
Anything embedded from another provider is subject to their accessibility rather than ours, which is one reason there is very little of it here.
How it has been checked
Automated testing and manual use.
Automated tools catch a proportion of problems, and the rest are found by using the site with a keyboard and reading it as a screen reader would.
Telling us about a problem
Please do, and be specific if you can.
The page, what you were trying to do and what happened is enough, and the details are on the contact page.
What we will do
Reply, and fix what we can.
An accessibility report gets a response like any other, and where something is straightforward to correct it is corrected rather than logged.
If you need information another way
Ask for it.
Anything on this site can be provided by email, read out over the telephone or explained in person, and the request is not an unusual one.
Reading the site on a phone
The commonest way it is used.
Pages are built to reflow to a narrow screen without horizontal scrolling, which matters here because a good number of people arrive while standing in the room they are asking about.
Printing a page
Works, and is worth knowing about.
These pages print legibly without the navigation, which some people find easier than reading a long explanation on a screen.
Where the guidance itself is on the site
In the same plain language as everything else.
The whole site is written to be understood by somebody who does not work in the trade, and that is an accessibility decision as much as an editorial one.
What that looks like is on the guides page.
When this was last reviewed
Reviewed as the site changes.
A site that grows continuously is checked continuously rather than audited once, and a problem reported here is treated as part of that.
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