Accessibility statement for great.gov.uk

The Department of Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to www.great.gov.uk.

DBT regularly tests its online services to ensure they meet accessibility requirements. Our internal development teams test constantly, and we had the whole website tested by external audit agencies.

We want our whole website to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA as a minimum.

We want all businesses and individuals to be able to use this website. This means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom up to 500% 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)

The site will:

• respond to different screen sizes or zoom levels
• use words that are clear and simple to understand throughout the website
• ensure all images have accessible descriptions where necessary

AbilityNet has tips on how to make your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We are constantly improving the content and performance of our website to make sure it can best support UK and international businesses.

Recent testing showed that small parts of the website are not fully accessible. For example, the ‘Events’ section of our site has several inaccessible elements which may be difficult for those using a screen reader.

We are actively working to fix these issues during regular service updates.

Feedback and contact information

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format, email digital.accessibility@businessandtrade.gov.uk. If you have a problem with accessing any of the events on great.gov.uk you can contact us at eventsupport@businessandtrade.gov.uk. We’ll 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 that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, please tell us by using the reporting links at the bottom of each page.

Enforcement procedure

In England, Wales and Scotland, 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).

In Northern Ireland, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland 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 Commission for Northern Ireland.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

DBT 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 WCAG 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and the exemptions listed below.

Non-compliance with accessibility regulations

We are aware of the following non-accessible content on great.gov.uk and have taken steps to reduce its impact.

Technology

The vast majority of great.gov.uk is compliant with WCAG 2.2 AA but there are individual elements of the site which may be difficult to use for people using assistive technology.

Images, video and audio

We have ensured that:

• all images have text alternatives where necessary
• specialist voice control software works effectively throughout the site
• the vast majority of our multimedia content is perceivable and operable to all users

Other accessibility issues

Domestic (UK) – great.gov.uk

We are working to resolve a number of issues that have been identified regarding the navigation of Domestic pages:

• Menu Navigation: Links within the menu cannot be accessed via Keyboard input (WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships, WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value, WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard, WCAG 2.1.3 Keyboard (No Exception))
• On a number of forms, validation errors are not announced to screen readers on page load due to a technical issue. We are working to resolve this issue. (WCAG 3.3.1 Error Identification)
• Accordions and links do not have standardised states  (WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible)

International – great.gov.uk/international/

We are working to resolve a number of issues that have been identified regarding the navigation of International pages:

• Menu Navigation: Links within the menu cannot be accessed via Keyboard input (WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships, WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value, WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard, WCAG 2.1.3 Keyboard (No Exception))
• The focus state of buttons in the sign up journey have an outline that fails colour contrast (WCAG 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast)

Events service – events.great.gov.uk, eu.eventscloud.com/ehome

Our events service at events.great.gov.uk is built and hosted through a third-party provider.

There are a number of issues with the events service including:

• there is no indication for blind users, or users that rely on audio feedback, that results are populating on the page when typing into the ‘Keyword’ form element (WCAG 3.2.2 On Input)
• the structure of the headings on the page is illogical (WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled)
• the menu button on mobile is unlabelled so it is unclear what the button relates to (WCAG 2.4.6 Headings and Labels)
• there is no ‘skip to content’ link present on some of the pages (WCAG 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks)
• the language attribute used has an invalid value - ‘eng’ is not a recognised language, and may cause assistive technology to render the content incorrectly (WCAG 3.1.1 Language of page)
• a technical issue with some lists may cause content to not render correctly on versions of screen reader software (WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order)
• some of our events pages contain non-descriptive ambiguous links such as ‘find out more’ (WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context))
• images lack alt text (WCAG 1.1.1 Non Text Content)
• the tab index on some of our events pages is used incorrectly causing some screen reader users to briefly lose focus when tabbing through interactive elements (WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order)

We are working with our supplier to create new accessible templates for our events service.

If you have a problem with accessing any of the events on great.gov.uk you can contact us at eventsupport@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

UK Export Academy

We are working with our UK Export Academy delivery team to ensure that all accessibility guidelines are followed wherever Microsoft Teams is used to facilitate a webinar event.

Microsoft has produced a detailed guide on how to take advantage of Microsoft Teams accessibility features.

We also maintain an active backlog of any issues that are reported to us and strive to continuously make accessibility improvements to the website.

Enhanced International Support Services (EISS) China

We are currently in the process of performing an accessibility audit for EISS China.

When the audit is completed, we will work with our supplier to identify any defects and amend any areas of the service which don’t conform to Standard A and AA of the WCAG 2.2.

If you have a problem with accessing Enhanced International Support Services (EISS) China on great.gov.uk you can contact us at enquiries@exportsupportservice.co.uk.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 19 May 2021. An external audit was completed by the  Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) on 22 October 2024. The findings of the audit report are being addressed to ensure that the great.gov.uk website complies with WCAG 2.2 AA.

This statement will be updated once all of the reported issues have been resolved.