Accessibility statement for the Acas website | Acas

This accessibility statement applies to www.acas.org.uk.

This website is run by Acas. 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 using browser or device settings
zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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.

Find advice from AbilityNet on making your device easier to use

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of www.acas.org.uk are not fully accessible, for example:

some documents are in PDF format instead of HTML
some images have poor colour contrast
some images do not have clear image descriptions
some parts of the website are hard for assistive technology users to navigate
there are some accessibility issues with our notification forms

Feedback and contact information

Email digital@acas.org.uk if:

you find any accessibility problems that are not listed on this page
you need information in a different format, like large print or accessible PDF

Find other ways to contact us

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Acas 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 2.2 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.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images do not use alternative text correctly. This might make it difficult for screen reader users to understand the information. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 (non-text content) and 1.4.5 (images of text).
Some images have poor contrast. Some elements in the site header have poor contrast. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.3 (contrast: minimum) and 1.4.11 (non-text contrast).
Some images in our research reports use colour to convey information. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.1 (use of colour).
Users can download some pages as PDFs. These are automatically generated by the website. The PDFs do not specify a tab order or default language. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.2 (meaningful sequence), 2.1.1 (keyboard), 2.4.3 (focus order) and 3.1.1 (language of page).
The feedback form at the end of most web pages has some issues with focus order and headings. This affects screen reader users and users who navigate using a keyboard. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships), 2.4.3 (focus order) and 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
When the feedback form is completed, screen reader users are not notified. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 4.1.3 (status messages).

Navigation and accessing information

Some of our reports are in PDF format and do not identify data tables correctly, so screen reader users might not be able to follow the structure of the document. This might affect their ability to access and understand the information. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
Some content is in PDF format and uses images without text alternatives. Some users will not be able to access and understand the information. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 (non-text content).
The search input box does not have a label. This can cause problems for users of assistive technology. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
The code for the cookie consent banner is placed at the bottom of the page. This can cause problems for screen reader users and users who navigate using a keyboard. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.2 (meaningful sequence) and 2.4.3 (focus order).
Navigating the menu on mobile devices is hard for assistive technology users. This is because some elements have not been coded correctly. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 4.1.2 (name, role, value), 2.4.3 (focus order), 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 2.1.1 (keyboard).

Notification forms

Error messages are not descriptive enough for users to understand. And assistive technology users are not made aware of error messages. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.4.3 (focus order), 3.3.3 (error suggestion) and 4.1.3 (status messages).
The button to upload a spreadsheet is not labelled correctly. This might be confusing for screen readers when navigating out of context. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
On the group notification form, the page where you upload claimant names and addresses has been styled to look like a numbered list. But it is not coded as a list. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
On the task list pages, the status label that contains the word 'optional' has poor contrast. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast: minimum).
Some form elements do not wrap when you increase font sizes and zoom levels. Having to scroll vertically and horizontally makes the forms difficult to read. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 (reflow).
There are issues with focus order and where the focus goes once you've done something. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (focus order) and 2.4.11 (focus not obscured: minimum).
There's no visible focus indicator for some form elements. Users who navigate using a keyboard do not always know where the focus is. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible).
Radio buttons that show additional content when selected are not being used correctly. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).

Disproportionate burden

We've identified Codes of Practice 2 and 3 as a disproportionate burden.

We've published these Codes of Practice in HTML. But they are not fully accessible because they use large amounts of bold to convey meaning.

We would need parliamentary approval to make these Codes of Practice fully accessible. We've assessed the cost and resource needed and concluded that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We're investigating all the issues we've mentioned in this statement and working to fix them.

We'll do another accessibility audit in 2024.

By December 2024, we plan to add more accessible alternatives for all PDFs. This includes:

replacing some PDFs with HTML content
adding Word and OpenDocument Text (ODT) documents as alternative formats

We're training staff to understand more about accessibility.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 May 2024.

We've prepared this statement based on:

an accessibility audit of our website in September 2023
an accessibility audit of our group notification form in October 2023
previous accessibility audits
work we've done to test, review and fix issues

The audit in September and October 2023 were carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard by the Digital Accessibility Centre.

If you would like a copy of our accessibility audit reports, email digital@acas.org.uk

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).