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Accessibility statement

Overview

This accessibility statement applies to the service-manual.ons.gov.uk website, and the components and patterns which appear in the examples throughout the Design System, which is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS aims to be inclusive in all that we do. We want everyone who visits our website to have a positive experience, and easily find and use the information they need. To help you, we have made our website simple to understand and more user-friendly, so you can:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 400% 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
  • navigate most of the website using just a mouse and on-screen keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader, including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA, TalkBack and VoiceOver

We have also made the website’s text as simple as possible to understand

For advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability, visit AbilityNet (opens in a new tab) .

How accessible this website is

We know some aspects of the ONS Service Manual website are not fully accessible. For example:

Content outside the scope of accessibility regulations

We do not have any content within the ONS Service Manual website and ONS Design System codebase that we consider to be outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.

Compliance status

The ONS website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 AA standard(opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab)  due to non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

The components and patterns of the design system are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 AA standard(opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab)  due to non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We are currently working to resolve the issues identified in this accessibility statement. We are also working with others across the ONS to make accessibility central to the way we create content and documents, so they can be used by everyone. Accessibility and alignment to newer WCAG versions are a priority in our roadmap.

We also test components and patterns with a broad range of assistive technologies, browsers and devices. Where possible, we test and research implementations of our components and patterns with a representative range of users, including those with disabilities.

Enforcement procedure

The Office for National Statistics is committed to making the ONS website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (opens in a new tab) .

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 contact us with a complaint and you are not happy with our response, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) (opens in a new tab) .

Preparation of this statement

We prepared this statement on 25 July 2023. We last reviewed it on 25 July 2023.

The ONS website was last tested on 6 June 2022 by The Digital Accessibility Centre Limited (DAC). DAC carried out manual testing with people with a range of disabilities on desktop, mobile and tablet devices. The testing consisted of a series of tasks where where the majority of page and content types on the ONS website were used.

We also internally test on a regular basis with a combination of automated and manual testing.

We are aiming to review this statement at least once a year, and will test this website, and the components and patterns of the Design System again within 2023.

Contact us

Report accessibility issues

If you experience any difficulty using this website, email us at ons.design.system@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab) 

Request content in an accessible format

If you need information from this website in a different format, email us at ons.design.system@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab) 

Please include:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you want

We will reply within five days to let you know when we will be able to provide the information. We will consider each request but may not be able to provide an alternative accessible format on every occasion.

Help improve this page

Let us know how we could improve this page, or share your user research findings. Discuss this page on GitHub (opens in a new tab) 

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