Accessibility statement

The standard

This site is built to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 at level AA. That is the target; the sections below say where it stands against it.

This statement covers the public website and the pages customers reach from links we send. It does not cover the office system our staff use.

What is built in

• Every page’s content is in the HTML that arrives, so the site can be read, and an enquiry sent, without JavaScript. On the enquiry form, adding photographs and choosing an inspection time from the calendar need JavaScript; without it the form says so, and the enquiry can still be sent.
• Semantic structure: one heading level one per page, headings in order, and real landmarks for the header, navigation, main content and footer.
• A skip link to the main content as the first focusable element.
• A visible focus outline on every interactive element.
• Touch targets of at least 44 by 44 pixels.
• Text that reflows without horizontal scrolling down to a 320 pixel viewport.
• Colour contrast meeting the AA ratios, with colour never used as the only way information is conveyed.
• Animation and transitions reduced automatically when your system asks for reduced motion.
• Alternative text required on every image before a page can be published — it is enforced by the system, not left to whoever is writing.
• The mobile menu can be operated entirely from the keyboard, closes on Escape and returns focus where it came from.

How it is tested

Automated accessibility checks run against the main public page types and the main customer pages every time the code changes, and a failure stops the change. Some customer pages — for example the page confirming an accepted quotation and the enquiry tracker — are not yet in those checks. Automated testing catches a useful minority of problems and misses the rest, so it is not the whole answer.

What has not been done yet

• No testing with real screen reader users. Automated checks and keyboard passes are not a substitute for that.
• No formal audit by an accessibility specialist.
• The automated checks run in one browser engine, Chromium. Safari and the iOS browsers use a different one, and they have not yet been checked systematically for accessibility.

This statement will be updated as those happen, including if they find problems.

Tell us about a problem

If any part of this site is difficult or impossible to use, please tell us using the details on the contact page. Say which page and what happened, and we will fix it and reply. If you need information from this site in another format, ask and we will provide it.