Accessibility of Ofcom's website

This accessibility statement applies to Ofcom.org.uk

There are several journeys that will take users to third party applications that are not covered in this statement.

Salesforce – for submitting complaints and queries to Ofcom
SPECTRAsc – applying for a licence
ICIMS – to apply for a job

This website is run by Ofcom. 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 200% without the text spilling off the screen
View the browser in a one column format (1280px browser width and Zoom in to 400%)
navigate some 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)
Watch videos with subtitles
Have a meaningful heading structure on most pages
Experience AA standards for 1.4.3 Contrast
Make a reasonable request for alternative formats, which Ofcom will consider

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand publishing consumer features for major announcements.

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:

The mobile navigation is difficult to use with a screen reader
You cannot skip to the main content when using a keyboard
Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
Some components and templates are harder to navigate or access via screen reader and keyboard. These include:
- search pages
- consultation pages
- forms that start Ofcom.org.uk
Power BI’s and mapping solutions are not accessible. Both are ways to visualise data where it is possible to zoom in and out of areas of interest. Visitors using screen reader software or a keyboard will not be able to interact with them in the same way.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact the digital team.

We will consider your request and get back to you in 21 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the digital team.

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).

Contacting us

You can contact us via phone, post or by sending an email to accessibilityrequests@ofcom.org.uk. You can also make a complaint via our hub.

Details of this and how to contact us via BSL, welsh or via textphone is available on our contact us page.

Whilst in lockdown we unable to take text relay calls.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Ofcom 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 2.1 AA standard.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

We use Power BI and maps to visualise data. We do however describe trends in associated research reports or consider alternative format requests

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Search

The search pages are not fully accessible:

The focus order needs reordering on the search page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A). We plan to fix this in March 2021.
After a search filter selection, the results reload automatically. For a mouse user the page automatically updates but when the checkboxes are selected by keyboard/screen reader they do not perform any functionality. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2 On Input (Level A). We plan to fix this in March 2021.

Navigation

The navigation is not fully accessible:

Mobile navigation menu items are not readable by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A). We plan to fix this in March 2021.

Form improvements

Forms beginning 'Ofcom.org.uk' are not fully accessible:

Error messaging is presented as paragraphs and not associated with the relevant fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 Error Identification and 4.1.3 Status Messages. We plan to fix this in January 2021.

Disproportionate burden

Some 3^rd party products are being replaced such as ICIMS.

We have assessed the cost of fixing them prior to replacement and we believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We have made accessibility a requirement for the new contracts.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By January 2021, we plan to fix these.

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. For example, we do not plan to fix consultation, research and out of scope PDF’s.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was initially prepared on 17 September 2020 and updated on 19 January 2021.

This website was last tested on September 2019. The test was carried out by Squiz. In the formation of the statement the website issues were retested by Digital Accessibility Centre on 27 August 2020.

We decided to sample 15 pages that included the main page templates and components used on the site. This was the most effective approach to focus on the detail of a few representative pages.

These pages and their parts were tested against WCAG 2.1 on all levels.

Browsers used

Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer 11

Other tools

Colour Contrast Analyzer, Wave Toolbar, Headings Map, Axe Accessibility, HTML

Code Sniffer and others

Assistive Solution Testing

3 x screen readers - NVDA & JAWS for Windows, VoiceOver for Apple MacOS

Mobile Assistive Solution Testing

2 x mobile screen readers - TalkBack for Android, VoiceOver for iOS

Additional Assistive Technology Testing

ZoomText, Dragon NaturallySpeaking