Accessibility statement for Charity Commission for England and Wales digital services

This accessibility statement is for the Charity Commission’s digital services, which includes the following:

• Annual Return;
• Update Charity Details;
• Change the charity financial period;
• Change the charity’s governing document, and
• Change the charity name.

The digital services are run by the Charity Commission. We want as many people as possible to be able to use the services. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen (not including text within a table format)
• navigate most of the service using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the service using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the service using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We have also made the service text as simple as possible to understand.

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 text will not reflow when you change the size of the browser window
• some tables do not have row headers
• some pages have colour contrast that do not meet WCAG standards
• some images do not have good alternative text
• some buttons are not correctly identified

Feedback and contact information

If you need information in a different format, you can call us on 0300 066 9197 or complete the enquiry form  and tell us:

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

We will consider your request and get back to you within 7 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 accessibility requirements, contact us.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Charity Commission 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, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• the dialogue that notifies users their session will expire or when confirming the cancellation of a transaction on the dashboard are not announced automatically to users who rely on screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
• some text and buttons have colour contrast that does not meet WCAG standards. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text content).
• custom elements, such as accordions, are difficult to use on some pages for people using assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
• some tables are not marked up correctly with table headers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• some buttons don’t have labels that describe the purpose of the button. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• not all landmarks are defined across tested pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• some heading levels are incorrectly assigned or missing. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• some content and functionality will not reflow when you change the size of the browser window. This fails WCAG2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text) and 1.3.10 (reflow).
• some radio buttons require additional styling to make the focus indicator more prominent. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible).
• the autocomplete attribute has been assigned as off for the first name, family name and email address form fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (identify common purpose).
• the check box for the declaration is incorrectly labelled. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• some error messages are not announced. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 (error identification) and 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• lists are not used to group content on a page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• inconsistent keyboard focus on some pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (focus order).
• some radio buttons and check boxes are not grouped in a field-set. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• some images do not have a clear text alternative, so the information in them is not available to people using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

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

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have recorded these issues in our backlog and will be handling them as part of our normal workflow. Our aim is to make the digital services fully accessible as soon as possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 2 September 2020. It was last updated on 30 September 2020.

The digital services were last tested in July 2018. The test was carried out by Nomensa.

An audit was carried out on a representative sample of pages and user journeys from each of our digital services. The audit was conducted on a desktop PC using Google Chrome.