Accessibility statement 

Accessibility Statement for Cefas.co.uk

This website is run by Cefas. 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 using browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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.

Please note that this accessibility statement website policy does not cover content published on GOV.UK as HTML: the main GOV.UK accessibility statement covers that.

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:

• Our video content does not have audio description.
• Some spreadsheets may not be clearly structured.
• Some of our images do not have appropriate descriptions.
• When hovering over the navigation bar dropdown menus, there is no mechanism to dismiss the additional content triggered without moving pointer hover or keyboard focus.
• Some tables may not have column and/or row headings.
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: communications@cefas.co.uk. 

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• email communications@cefas.co.uk
• +44 (0) 1502 56224

We’ll consider the request and get back to you in 10 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us  communications@cefas.co.uk for directions.

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 website’s accessibility

Cefas 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below. We are working to resolve a number of issues that have been identified with the launch of a new Cefas website in June 2025. 

Non-accessible content

a) Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons

• When hovering over the navigation bar dropdown menus, there is no mechanism to dismiss the additional content triggered without moving pointer hover or keyboard focus. This fails WCAG 1.4.13 Content on Hover and Focus. We plan to address this with the launch of our new website in December 2025.

• In the audio for our podcast it is not clear that an alternative is available when it plays. This fails WCAG 1.2.1 Audio-only and video-only (prerecorded). We plan to address this with new podcasts developed in January 2025.

• There are some links on the website that not accessible using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.21 keyboard. All links will be accessible by December 2025..

•  There are some pages where the keyboard focus is not visible. This is fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible . This will be fixed by December 2025.

• Links within the navigational menu along the top of the webpage do not have sufficient colour contrast. This includes links when the menu is expanded. This fails of WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) success criterion 1.4.3 and 1.4.6 due to using background images that do not provide sufficient contrast with foreground text (or images of text). This will be amended by December 2025.

• Many older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). All new PDFs and Word documents published will meet accessibility standards by December 2025.

• Some documents may have diagrams with no text alternative. The information in these diagrams is not available to people using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to address this by June 2025. All new diagrams will have alternate text to meet accessibility standards.

• Some videos do not have an alternative text version. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3. We plan to address this by December 2025.

• Some visual headings are not marked up correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1. All visuals will be marked correctly by December 2025.

• Some documents may have diagrams that do not meet the colour contrast ratio of at least 3:1. These diagrams may be difficult to see, or completely missed, by people with a visual impairment. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). All new diagrams from June 2025 will have the appropriate colour contrast to meet accessibility standards. 

• Some documents may have diagrams that use colour as the only means of conveying information. The information in these diagrams may not be perceived by users with colour vision deficiencies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (use of colour). All new documents with diagrams will have information conveyed not only through colour but also by another visual means by December 2025.

• Some documents may have been published in an unstructured PDF. Headings, list items and paragraphs may not be recognised by a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). All new PDFs or Word documents we publish will have the appropriate structure.

• Some spreadsheets may not be clearly structured with labelled tables, and labelled headings. Column headings may be blank. Workbook tabs may not have a clear title. This fails success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). All new spreadsheets we publish from December 2025  will have the appropriate structure.

• Some documents may have been published using tables to lay out text in columns on the page. This often hides content from the navigation pane or table of contents. This does not meet success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels) or success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We plan to make sure that tables are not used to lay out text by December 2025.

• Some images do not have alternative text. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1. We plan to add text alternatives for all images with the launch of our website in December 2025. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

(b) the content is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

• Background images in the carousel at the top of the website do not have alternative text. This is in line with WCAG 2.2 which states that alternative text is not required for photos used for decorative purposes. 
• Some documents contain maps. This does not meet a number of WCAG 2.1 success criteria, including 1.3, 1.4, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1 and 3.2. These types of documents are exempt from the regulations, so we do not currently have any plans to make them accessible. For any maps in new documents, we will provide text alternatives where appropriate.
• The accessibility regulations do not require us to update PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix research and analysis reports. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
• Pre-recorded videos published before 23 September 2020. This includes content published on platforms such as YouTube.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was first prepared on September 8th 2020 following an evaluation of the website carried out by an internal review. This Statement was last reviewed on 1 November 2024.

A  recent test was carried out Government’s Digital Service (GDS) on 2 July 2024. The most used pages were tested using automated testing tools.  A further audit of the website was carried out by the GDS on 11 October 2024 to WCAG 2.2 AA standard. 

You can read the full accessibility test report Accessibility report for www.cefas.co.uk (accessibility-monitoring.service.gov.uk)