Accessibility of Ofcom's website

About Ofcom Accessibility (About Ofcom)
Published: 19 June 2023
Last updated: 13 June 2024

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 clearances
  • Careers site – 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:

  • Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some templates are harder to navigate or access via screen reader software and keyboards. These include 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.
  • Some components are harder to use with assistive technologies as they do not contain programmatically determined or descriptive labels, content structure is not properly represented through headings, grouping, lists and table structure, and, names, roles and values are not always properly conveyed

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

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.

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 or Welsh are available on our contact us page.

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 2.2 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

  1. The heading structure within the cookie dialog is not properly represented to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
  2. Some lists are not properly presented as unordered lists and it may be difficult for screen reader users to discern where each item begins and ends. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  3. Some tables have no header cells. This means that the headers for each column and row will not be apparent to assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  4. The focus indictor on some buttons does not meet the minimum colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast).
  5. Some error identification text does not meet the minimum colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)).
  6. Some input errors are not properly described and identified to users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 3.3.1 (error identification).
  7. The focus order when tabbing through some content is not in a predictable order. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.4.3 (focus order).
  8. Some radio buttons are visibly grouped but this is not programmatically represented to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  9. Lookup tables have no accessible label, and their purpose may be unclear. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
  10. The ‘show all steps’ feature that is available on some expandable content is not accessible using a keyboard. Content can be expended individually. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).
  11. Images contained within video playlists do not contain appropriate alternative text and do not describe their purpose to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
  12. Where content is presented in a grid, headings and content are not properly marked up and may be read as single sentences by assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  13. Slider buttons are not correctly labelled and do not sufficiently describe their purpose out of context to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
  14. The Cymraeg language link is presented in Welsh but is not programmatically specified with the language attribute. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 3.1.2 (language of parts).
  15. Some Welsh pages contain English content, but the language is not programmatically specified. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 3.1.2 (language of parts).
  16. Lookup table results appear visually as headings but aren’t programmatically marked up as such, therefore, the structure of the page may not be understood by screen reader users in the same way as other users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.4.5 (headings and labels).
  17. Consultation pages are marked up with some incorrect heading levels, and therefore structure of the page may be presented incorrectly to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels).
  18. Navigation menus are marked up as links, however, menus are more representative of buttons, and users may assume menus will open in a new window, as is typical to a link. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
  19. Some videos do not have audio descriptions or media alternatives available. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative (prerecorded)).
  20. Page navigation on result pages is incorrectly described as collapsible/expandable links. This fails WCAG 2.2. success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).

We plan to fix the above by December 2024.

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

PDFs and other documents

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 prepared on 11 June 2024.

This website was last tested in April 2024. The test was carried out by Digital Accessibility Centre.

We used a sample of 14 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 representative pages.

These pages and their parts were tested against WCAG 2.2 on all levels.

Browsers/operating systems used

  • Windows (Chrome)
  • Windows (Edge)
  • iOS (Safari)
  • Android (Chrome)

Tool used

  • JAWS screen reader
  • NVDA screen reader
  • Dragon Voice Activation
  • VoiceOver
  • TalkBack / Voice Assistnat
  • Screen Magnification Reflow, Text Spacing
  • Windows Magnifier
  • ZoomText
  • System inverted colours
  • Magnification
  • Pinch to Zoom
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