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Accessibility Statement

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 extranet website for REgistered Engineers 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:

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.

  • telephone: 0800 408 5500

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 on the Registered Engineer extranet section of the website, which are 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 in our Registered Engineer extranet 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).

Due to the way our pages are built, some headings and structures in our Registered Engineer extranet do not follow the ideal order or sequence, 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 and 1.3.2. We plan to fix this in our engineer extranet by September 2022.  

Our forms in our Registered Engineer extranet do not always include information which identifies the purpose of each input field, and which also supports autocomplete. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5, (identify input purpose). We plan to fix this in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Some buttons in our forms, foreground colours and field validation messaging in our Registered Engineer extranet do not have sufficient contrast to their background. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 and 1.4.3. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Menus on our Registered Engineer extranet fail to render correctly at 400% zoom level. A horizontal scroll bar appears when the width of screen exceeds 1280px and zoom level 400% on certain pages in a small number of browsers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10 (reflow). We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

In our Registered Engineer extranet, some icon links, link text, tab links, label text, validation text, body text, 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 these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

If the line height and spacing is increased on a small number of pages the text may overlap and cause issues with checkbox functionality. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 (non-text contrast). We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Principle 2: Operable

In our Registered Engineer extranet, we do not currently have a way for keyboard and screen reader users to bypass the main website navigation, header navigation for the main page content, carousel banners, information icons, close buttons, e-learning modules, certain images, map pins, some tables cannot be expanded using a keyboard, users of some forms can become trapped in the calendar function when using a keyboard. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Certain videos do not have the capability to pause, stop or hide the video. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2. We plan to fix this with a new public facing website November 2021, and in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Certain scrolling text does not have the capability to receive focus, pause, stop or hide the scrolling text, in our Registered Engineer extranet. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Our Registered Engineer extranet does 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 these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

A small number of webpages do not have page titles that have a full description of the webpage. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

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. There are also a small number of required field labels that are missing in certain form field headings. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.6. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

For users operating our Registered Engineer extranet site with a keyboard, there are multiple components in our sites where the focus of the keyboard action isn’t clearly indicated. Certain navigation, video, form field, button links do not display a focus indicator when receiving focus. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.7. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

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 these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Principle 3: Understandable

We are not currently aware of any WCAG failures that fit into this category. We analyse our website on a regular basis and will update as soon as any are identified. 

Principle 4: Robust

Some parts of our Registered Engineer extranet site 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 these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

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. Also, an unsuccessful form submission provide a notification of an unsuccessful form submission to screen reader users. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 4.1.3. We plan to fix these in our Registered Engineer extranet by September 2022.

Disproportionate burden

We have assessed our current Registered 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 by September 2022.  

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

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

The Gas Safe Register public website was replaced in November 2021. An updated Registered Engineer extranet will be published in September 2022. The engineer extranet will be developed with accessibility as a priority, and will resolve the issues summarised below, so that the site achieves 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 originally prepared on 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 24th November 2021.

This website was last tested in October 2021. 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 Sortsite accessibility checker tools and manual observation.