How you can use this website
This website is run by Capita Gas Registration and Ancillary Services. 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 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using 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)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
Some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use, without changing what the text means.
However, we recognise that our website is not as accessible as it needs to be. This is something we are actively working towards.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know that some parts of the website aren't fully accessible:
- we have some documents which are in PDF format, that haven't been designed specifically for accessibility,
- some content is embedded in our website, such as videos, and you cannot easily scale these on screen (but you can open a full screen version),
- input buttons throughout the site may not have descriptive alternative texts,
- some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
- some images throughout the site may not have descriptive alternative texts,
- videos provide no additional textual information.
- some links in the site may not have descriptive alternative texts or other contextual information that make their purpose clear to the widest range of users,
- some information presentation on the site does not meet the minimum contrast requirements, which would enhance its legibility.
Feedback and contact information
If you have problems accessing the services or information on this website, and would like to request a reasonable adjustment, such as large print:
- email: register@gassaferegister.co.uk
- Call: 0800 408 5500
- text phone: 0800 408 0606
- (You will need access to a Minicom text-based phone system, designed for Linux software in order to use this service.)
We'll consider your request and aim to get back to you within five days, usually sooner.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We're always looking to improve the accessibility of our websites.
If you find any problems which aren't listed on this page, or think that we're not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact our marketing and customer services team to let us know, by emailing us at marketing@gassaferegister.co.uk. We will aim to provide an initial response within five days.
Enforcement procedure
Customers in England, Scotland and Wales:
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).
Customers in Northern Ireland:
The Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’)
If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).
Contacting us by phone
Our services can be accessed by telephone and automated phone service.
If you would like to contact us by telephone, we provide a text phone service for those who are hard of hearing.
- telephone: 0800 408 5500
- text phone: 0800 408 0606
- (You will need access to a Minicom text-based phone system, designed for Linux software in order to use this service.)
Technical information about this website's accessibility
The Gas Safe Register 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 below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
In some places, parts of our websites are not yet compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 A or AA standard.
Principle 1: Perceivable
Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
We plan to add text alternatives for all images in our public facing site by February 2021. When we publish new content we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
We haven't provided text transcripts or audio descriptions to help those with visual impairments to understand what is happening in some of our videos and audio content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 and 1.2.5. We plan to add text transcripts or audio descriptions to our videos and audio content on our public facing site by February 2021.
Due to the way our pages are built, some headings and structures do not follow the ideal order, which means that information may be read in the wrong order, or forms and tables are not read in a way that relates the appropriate heading with its information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
We have used colour and size of font to communicate information. This fails WCAG 2.1 criteria 1.3.3. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
Our forms do not always include information which identifies the purpose of each input field, which also supports autocomplete. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5, (identify input purpose). We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Some buttons in our forms do not have sufficient contrast to their background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 and 1.4.3. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Some images are used to convey information, where text should be used instead. This fails WGAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
Menus on our sites fail to render correctly at 400% zoom level. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10 (reflow). We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Some links buttons in our forms do not have sufficient contrast to their background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Principle 2: Operable
We do not currently have a way for keyboard and screen reader users to bypass the header navigation for the main page content, some tables cannot be expanded using a keyboard, users of some forms can become trapped in the calendar function when using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Sessions timeouts which cannot be adjusted by users are used, this has particular impact in the search features such as find or check an engineer. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.1. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Our sites do not allow users to skip over menus, meaning that they need to be read each time on every page by non-mouse users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Not all of our links have a clearly defined purpose accessible to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
In some cases we have used headings to emphasise text. This means that not all headings have no meaning when interpreted independently, in that they do not describe a topic or purpose. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.6. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
For users operating our site with a keyboard, there are multiple components in our sites where the focus of the keyboard action isn’t clearly indicated. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.7. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
The accessible name in a label may not match or adequately indicate the visible label. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.5.3. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Principle 3: Understandable
Pop-up surveys and security checks both take user focus unexpectedly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.2.1. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
Currently an invalid postcode in the find-an-engineer search returns an error message, which does not identify the error and describe this clearly to the user in text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.1. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
Not all of our form fields have accessible labels. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.2. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
The error messages currently displayed in forms do not provide sufficient suggestions for correction to the user. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.3. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
The current page for ordering a duplicate Building Regulation Compliance certificate does not ask for confirmation of any details, such as email address, prior to taking payment. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.4. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021.
Principle 4: Robust
Some parts of our sites have auto-generated control names, which do not convey the purpose or content to some users of assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 4.1.2. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Some of our existing forms have buttons that transition state - such as saying 'Next' then transitioning to 'Processing' without any indication that they perform a dual role. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 4.1.3. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Disproportionate burden
We have assessed our current public facing website and assessed the costs and time required to repair the accessibility issues on the current site, in advance of our planned release of a new website which has been developed with compliance with the regulations as a key requirement. We believe that attempting to repair the current site now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Our aim is to focus our effort on delivering a purpose built, fully compliant, public facing website in February 2021.
We have assessed our current engineer extranet site and assessed the costs and time required to repair the accessibility issues on the current site, in advance of our planned release of a new extranet site which has been developed with compliance with the regulations as a key requirement. We believe that attempting to repair the current engineer extranet now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Our aim is to focus our effort on delivering a purpose built, fully compliant, engineer extranet in June 2021.
Content that’s not within the scope of the regulations
Some of the content included on our websites does not fit within the scope of the accessibility regulations. This includes:
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages with a new public facing website February 2021, and in our engineer extranet by June 2021.
Any new PDFs documents we publish that are essential to providing our service will meet accessibility standards.
Pre-recorded media published before 23 September 2020
We have not provided text transcripts or audio descriptions to help those with visual impairments understand what is happening in some of our videos and audio content. While we'll ensure that pre-recorded media content published after 23 September 2020 has text transcripts and audio descriptions available, we are not currently able to implement this for all pre-recorded media already published.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
At Gas Safe Register we are actively looking to improve the accessibility on our website.
The improvements below have been identified on our current work schedule.
Accessibility improvement roadmap
Further to the details below, the Gas Safe Register public website will be replaced in February 2021. The new engineer extranet will be published in June 2021. These have been developed with accessibility as a priority, and will resolve the issues summarised below, so that the sites are WCAG 2.1 AA standard:
Use of images / pictures
- Images have no text equivalent
- Input buttons using images have no ARIA role or ALT
- Embedded videos provide no additional details or audio descriptions
New buttons to be introduced
Buttons require additional information, to communicate:
- What the buttons are
- What they do when selected (pre-selection)
Use of a keyboard
- Support keyboard interaction throughout
Navigation in general
- Allow session time-out to be editable where required
- Menu items do not include enough descriptive content for screen readers
- Some links to other websites do not include alternative descriptive information
- No visual measure of what’s being selected when using keyboard or screen-reader
- Headings have no meanings for screen-readers
- Support skip links to bypass navigation menus
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 13 November 2020.
This website was last tested in July 2020. The test was carried out by members of the digital teams supporting Gas Safe Register at Capita Plc. We choose sample pages that included all the components and content templates we use across the site, and tested these with the Sitecore accessibility checker tools and manual observation.
