Accessibility statement for GovWifi

This service is run by the Cabinet Office Digital (CO:D), part of Cabinet Office. We want as many people as possible to be able to use it. 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
• 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’ve 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 way that screen readers announce the different regions of our pages can be confusing

What to do if you cannot access parts of this service

If you need information on this service in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, contact govwifi-support@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 2 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this service

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this service. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact govwifi-support@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk

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 service’s accessibility

The CO:D is committed to making this service accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This service is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, because of the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

Status Page

Some content on our status page is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-compliances are:

• an incorrect heading hierarchy which fails success criterion 1.3.1: info and relationships
• missing level 1 headings (users may not be able to accurately determine the structure of content on the page)
• our status incident page is missing the main heading and the status home page has an incorrect heading hierarchy – this fails success criterion 1.3.1: info and relationships
• our status page ‘subscribe to updates’ link does not contain programmatically discernible link text – this fails success criterion 1.3.1: info and relationships
• our status page subscribe to updates form fields do not contain an explicit label – this fails success criterion 1.3.1: info and relationships
• our status page subscribe to updates forms do not indicate to users that they are expandable or collapsible – this fails success criterion 4.1.2: name, role, value
• our status page subscribe to updates forms contain some text that does not meet the minimum colour contrast requirements – this fails success criterion 1.4.3: contrast, minimum
• our status page subscribe to updates form close link (x) is not descriptive enough for some users to determine its function or purpose – this fails success criterion 2.4.4: link purpose, in context
• our status page subscribe to updates forms, when submitted with incorrect data, do not inform screen reader users of the error message when it becomes available – this fails success criterion 4.1.3: status messages

We plan to have these issues addressed by the current supplier, or move to an alternative supplier in 2022.

How we tested this service

The website was tested in May 2021 by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) using a combination of automated and manual tests, including:

• JAWS 18 screen reader with Chrome
• NVDA screen reader with Firefox
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 15 with Internet Explorer 11
• ZoomText 11 (Fusion) with Chrome
• VoiceOver with Safari (v12 or later) on iPhone
• Zoom with Safari on iPad
• TalkBack on Android (Chrome browser)

DAC also tested to make sure that the service can be used:

• without a mouse
• by disabled people who do not use specific assistive technology

DAC tested the:

• GovWifi information pages, which give instructions for using GovWifi
• GovWifi admin platform, where users manage their organisation's use of GovWifi

In addition, GovWifi developers tested the GovWifi status page, where users can see GovWifi incidents, in May 2024.

We have a separate accessibility statement for the GovWifi technical documentation pages, which DAC also tested.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We have recorded and fixed previous issues including those highlighted by the DAC audit to the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

We have plans to recommission an independent audit of our service at a future date.

This statement was prepared on 11 September 2019. It was last updated on 20 May 2024.