Known Issues
Issues with video and images
Video
- Not all video content has a transcript, making the content inaccessible to users who cannot see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.
We are working to ensure that transcripts are provided for all video content.
- Not all video content has captions that are synchronised to the audio content of the video, making them inaccessible to people who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2.
We are working to ensure that captions are provided for all video and audio content.
Images
- Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.
We are working to ensure that all images have a meaningful text alternative. Purely decorative images will have blank alt text and infographics and charts will have a link to a full description of the content.
- Some images include text as part of the image, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5.
We are working to ensure that all images containing text with a suitable text alternative to include the image text.
Issue with navigation, structure, links and keyboard operability
Structure
- Not all headings are hierarchical, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology such as screen readers to access. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.
We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these structural issues.
- Heading have on occasion been used to highlight information rather than for headings, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology to use. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.6.
All text that uses a heading to highlight information but does not serve as a heading will be fixed.
Links
- Some links do not use text that is meaningful out of context, which can result in users of screen readers not being able to understand the link without reading the surrounding text and users of speech recognition software being less able to target links accurately using voice commands. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4.
All links are in the process of being reviewed and fixed.
Keyboard operability
- Carousels do not have obvious controls for users to stop the auto-rotate, which can cause people with cognitive disability that affect focus and concentration to be distracted making the site less accessible. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2.
We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these keyboard operability issues.
Issues with contrast, use of colour and visual characteristics
- Some elements have low contrast levels (e.g. links), which can result in text being difficult to read, especially for people with low vision, poor eyesight or colour blindness. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3.
We are working with our developers to implement a fix for this issue.
- Some pages use colour as the sole way to convey important information, which means that users who cannot see colour are unable to perceive the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1.
All pages are in the process of being reviewed and fixed.
- Some pages use visual characteristics (shape, size, colour or location) to communicate instructions, which means that users who are unable to see or recognise information communicated using sensory characteristics are unable to perceive that information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.3.
All pages are in the process of being reviewed and fixed.
Issues with language and content
- The line height, spacing between paragraphs and letter and word spacing cannot be changed without loss of content or functionality. This means that people with low vision, dyslexia or cognitive disabilities may struggle to read the text, or lose content or functionality.
- When using mobile or tablet devices, it may not be possible to dismiss or interact with some extra content (i.e. pop-up images) without moving focus, losing functionality, or it disappearing. This may cause problems for disabled or sight impaired users as pop-up content may be accidentally triggered or pop-up content may not stay on the screen. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13.
We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these issues.
Issues with documents, including Word files, PowerPoints, PDFs
- Many of the documents (Word and PDF) on this site do not meet accessibility standards, which could result in them not being fully accessible to users of screen readers.
Documents that are essential to the service we provide will be either converted to HTML pages or replaced with accessible versions.
Issues with Content Management System (CMS)
- The CMS code is being checked to ensure that it meets the robust accessibility criteria 4.1.1, 4.1.2 & 4.1.3.
This will be done as part of an accessibility upgrade of the Haiku Content Management System.
Disproportionate burden
We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Third-party content
Our site includes third party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, link to another site or supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party content or to other sites we link to.
This includes:
- YouTube videos
- Sound Cloud audio files
- Google maps
We will provide an accessible alternative to any third-party content that isn’t compliant.
Third party platforms
We often create content which is hosted on third party platforms. This includes:
- content we create for social media
- video which we host on YouTube, SoundCloud or Vimeo
- data we supply to national databases
We are responsible for ensuring the content we supply meets accessibility requirements; however, we are not responsible for the accessibility of the platform itself.