Accessibility

We build to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. That is a target we design and test against, not a certification we have been awarded.

• Keyboard access. Every interactive element can be reached and operated with a keyboard, and the focus indicator is always visible. A skip link at the top of each page jumps straight to the main content.
• Screen readers. Pages use semantic HTML with a sequential heading structure. Form fields have real labels, and errors are announced and shown next to the field they belong to.
• Menus that work without a mouse. Navigation menus open on click rather than hover, respond to arrow keys and Escape, and return focus where it came from.
• Reduced motion. If your system is set to reduce motion, animations stop and render in their final state. No information is conveyed by animation alone - the site is fully understandable with every animation switched off.
• Colour is never the only signal. Status, direction and meaning are always paired with text or a shape, not indicated by colour alone.
• Zoom and small screens. Pinch-zoom is never disabled. Layouts work from 375px upward without horizontal scrolling, and body text stays at least 16px.
• Touch targets. Interactive controls are at least 44 by 44 pixels.
• Images. Images that carry meaning have alternative text. Purely decorative images are hidden from screen readers rather than announced as noise.

Accessibility is ongoing rather than finished. Known limitations:

• Some data visualisations convey a trend that is easier to perceive visually. Each one is accompanied by the same information in text or a table, but the visual form is still the quicker read.
• Documents uploaded by administrators, such as PDFs, may not meet the same standard as the website itself.
• Third-party components embedded in the site are outside our direct control, though we choose them with accessibility in mind.

If something on this site is difficult or impossible to use, we want to know - it is a bug, and we will treat it as one.

Please use the contact form (or email the address shown in the footer) and include the page address, what you were trying to do, and what browser or assistive technology you were using.

If you cannot reach us through this website because of an accessibility barrier, that is exactly the kind of problem we most want to hear about - please use any other channel you can.