Accessibility statement
This accessibility statement applies to the Citizens Advice website.
This website is run by Citizens Advice. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. You should be able to:
easily understand our content
view images and multimedia - including videos, animations and audio
read text with good colour contrast
skip to main content using a keyboard
You can find advice on making your device easier to use on the AbilityNet website.
How accessible this website is
We know parts of this website arent fully accessible, for example:
some pages have poor colour contrast
some labels and error messages arent clear what they relate to
some buttons arent correctly identified
some pages and forms dont work well when zoomed in
some pages and forms cant be accessed or navigated with a keyboard
some links dont have useful text or you can only tell theyre links because of what colour they are
navigation isnt consistent
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, you can ask by using the link at the end of each page. We'll consider your request and get back to you.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think were not meeting accessibility requirements, you can tell us about them with the link at the end of each page.
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 youre not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
We provide a textphone service for people who cant hear or speak on the phone. You can find out more about textphone on the Relay UK website.
You can check if your nearest Citizens Advice has an audio induction loop. You should also check if we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter before your visit. Find out how to contact us.
Technical information about this websites accessibility
Citizens Advice 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 in this section is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Colour
We fail guideline 1.4 Distinguishable of the WCAG 2.1 AA standard because:
this website doesnt meet the contrast requirement of 3:1 against a white background for interactive elements or form controls
some pages use colour to show what they mean
Were redesigning our website and will start to use these designs in early 2024.
Well remove the social sharing toolbar.
Forms
We fail guidelines 1.3 Adaptable, 2.1 Keyboard accessible, 2.4 Navigable and 3.3 Input assistance of the WCAG 2.1 AA standards because:
many of the forms cant be used with just a keyboard or keyboard interface
some form fields are missing labels which can make it difficult to tell which field to complete
dynamic content isnt properly marked up so assistive technology users wont know the content has changed
error messages dont tell people using assistive technology if theres an error
In 2021, well start to review how all forms and interactive elements are implemented.
Were redesigning our website and we started to use these designs in early 2021.
Compatibility
We fail guideline 4.1 Compatible of the WCAG 2.1 AA standards because some HTML and ARIA markup includes invalid attributes.
Were migrating to a new Content Management System which will address this issue.
Navigation
We fail guideline 1.4 Distinguishable of the WCAG 2.1 AA standards because:
items within the navigation menu cant be closed with the Esc key.
the navigation bar text reflows when zooming in on text on old pages, but the blue bar doesnt get bigger and makes the text unreadable
We started using new navigation in 2021.
Keyboard access
We fail guidelines 2.1 Keyboard accessible and 2.4 Navigable of the WCAG 2.1 AA standards because:
several of the tools cant be accessed or navigated with the keyboard
the side navigation on some pages isnt in a logical order and wont let you select a link using a keyboard
some pages have buttons with incorrect markup that affects how they work with assistive technology
Well make the navigation and buttons accessible by early 2024.
Links
We fail guidelines 1.4.1 Use of color and 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context) of the WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Some pages have links that are only distinguished from plain text by colour. This is worse for heading links on index pages, as theres no way to tell which is a link.
Were redesigning our website and will start to use these designs in early 2024.
Data visualisations
We fail guideline 1.4.3 Colour Contrast of the WCAG 2.1 AA standard in our policy research section because:
some colour contrasts arent accessible - for example, our pie charts and line charts
Were using a third party service to show data visualisations in our policy research section. Some graphs or charts wont meet accessibility standards because:
data points cant be navigated using a keyboard
visualisations dont have screen reader descriptions
visualisations dont have screen-readable popups
visualisations dont have reduced motion animations
We're working to make information more accessible and plan to make an accessible colour palette by July 2024.
If you need our data visualisations in a different format you can download the data as a CSV file or contact us for more information.
Disproportionate burden
Disproportionate burden means content that would take a lot of time or money to fix, but wouldnt make it much easier to use.
Were planning to fix all the problems weve found, so this section doesnt apply to us.
Content thats not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Not applicable for this statement as we plan to fix all accessibility issues.
What were doing to improve accessibility
Were currently moving to a new Content Management System - this will fix a lot of the issues weve described. After that, well get an external audit of the site.
Weve also developed a process to make sure we meet accessibility standards from now on.
1. Accessibility checks for all development releases
Well check all new content, designs and development meets accessibility standards.
2. Regular quality assurance (QA) testing with an accessibility focus
As we design, build and update the site, we will regularly do audits and QA testing to make sure we dont add new barriers.
3. Including disabled people and people with long term health conditions in every round of research
During the early stages of development, well make sure people with access needs are included in the research.
Well run usability testing with advisers and volunteers who work for Citizens Advice and well use our Disability Network Group to recruit participants.
When we recruit external participants for usability testing, well make sure people with access needs are included in this.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 20 November 2023.
This website was last tested from December 2019 to January 2020. We carried out the testing internally.
We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.