Accessibility at PostOffice.co.uk

Post Office is committed to making digital products and services accessible to everyone

Our accessibility goals

As part of our Post Office Accessibility Policy we:

Follow WCAG 2.1 AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 for all digital projects and initiatives
Harness the support of independent bodies such as AbilityNet to advise, train, and evaluate us

Conduct formal and informal accessibility evaluations against the guidelines throughout development
Engage with disabled people, understand their requirements and incorporate them into our scoping and planning

Using this website

There are a number of features on this website that you can use to navigate and engage with the content. You can:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
view the website in both portrait and landscape orientation on mobile
zoom in up to 400% without the text overlapping for most content
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard, including being able to easily bypass repetitive menu links via a skip to content link on all pages
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to most of the website using a screen reader such as NVDA or VoiceOver

Post Office’s independent accessibility advisor, AbilityNet, has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible is this website?

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

The main navigation may cause issues for keyboard and screen reader users. Search and sitemap functionality are available as alternative ways to navigate to content.
Some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software. Contact us if you wish to request an alternative version of PDF content.
Older video content may not be fully accessible in terms of audio description.

A full listing of known issues that may affect users with disabilities is available below under non-accessible content.

Feedback and report accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, or would simply like to receive something in a different format to support your needs, please contact accessibility@postoffice.co.uk. All issues and queries that are submitted are sent directly to Post Office Digital, who are the department within Post Office that govern the standards on this website. They will be the team reviewing and responding to all issues and queries and endeavour to respond within 10 working days.

Enforcement procedure

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

All our branches provide different levels of accessible support. If you’d like to speak to someone in person regarding any Post Office products or services, please visit our branch finder to search for branches near you and see which provide the accessible support and facilities you might need. Look for the ‘branch accessibility details’ link on each branch details page to see a list of facilities available.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Compliance status

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Images and non-text content

There are some functional images, including some images used in tooltip buttons, that lack a text alternative for assistive technology users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are a few pieces of static non-text content, such as some informative images and icons that do not have a text alternative for assistive technology users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are some decorative images which are not marked up with empty alternative text to instruct assistive technology to ignore them. These may announce unnecessarily for screen reader users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There is an image of text on the homepage which does not scale well at higher magnifications. This may affect users with low vision who want to magnify the page. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Colour and contrast

The colour scheme on the website does not provide sufficient contrast for some text and user interface components, such as functional social media logo icons. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 and 1.4.11) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There is text used against images in some banners where the text and background colours do not contrast sufficiently. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Colour alone is used to communicate certain information, such as fields with errors in the general enquiries form. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Some links are identified using colour alone. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Text resizing and adjustment

The ability to reflow content is not fully supported, as a small number of items disappear when some pages are viewed with 400% browser zoom. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

The ability to adjust text spacing is not fully supported on some pages, where clipped text and overlapping text occur if text spacing is changed. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Page and content structure

The heading order is illogical on some pages, with skipped heading levels and parent and child headings inappropriately at the same level. Some text is marked up as a heading but does not act semantically as a heading on the page. Other text is correctly displayed visually as a heading but is not marked up as such for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

In multi-header tables on the Everyday Banking page, table cells are not correctly associated with the table headers. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Visually displayed lists in the search results are not marked up as lists for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

The breadcrumb navigation does not communicate the current page to assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are iframes that have no title defined for assistive technology users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Keyboard navigation and focus order

Some navigation links within the main navigation menu cannot be operated by keyboard and the top-level submenus cannot be operated with keyboard when using the NVDA screen reader with Firefox. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are problems with focus order in the main menu when using a screen reader on mobile. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Focus is not managed correctly when some modal dialogs are launched and elements behind some modal windows receive focus while the window is open. Keyboard focus does not return to the triggering element for all modal dialogs when they are dismissed. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

A few non-interactive elements receive keyboard focus. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

On one accordion control within the Branch Finder, visually- hidden buttons are available to screen readers when the accordion is collapsed. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There is an instance where the reading order in a table on the Price Finder page is not logical for screen reader users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Forms and error messaging

A few form controls do not have labels that are available for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Some required form fields are not identified as required for users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Some error messages in forms are not communicated to assistive technology users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Some help content in tooltips with instructions for form inputs is not announced for screen readers. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

The input purpose is not programmatically defined for some fields that collect personal information in forms. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Some instructions for input fields in the Mortgages Affordability Calculator are not immediately apparent for users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Interactive components

There are interactive elements such as some accordions, buttons, checkboxes and navigation items in the main menu which do not communicate their role appropriately to assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are radio buttons which do not communicate their selected state to assistive technology and some tabs which wrongly announce their selected state. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are expandable buttons, including menu items, that do not communicate their expanded or collapsed state appropriately to assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

The labels on the buttons for the search function may not be appropriately descriptive, (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

There are a few buttons where the accessible name given for assistive technology does not include the text in the visible label, which may cause issues for screen reader and speech recognition users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

The drop-down elements in the main navigation cannot be consistently hovered over without disappearing. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13) – On Post Office backlog to be fixed 20/21

Coding

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs published before 23 September 2018
Third-party content outside of the control of the organisation

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

In 2018, Post Office undertook a major programme of activity to improve accessibility and inclusive design. This began with heavy investment in a new in-house digital team, providing a stable platform for us to effectively govern all the work that we do.

We then drafted the support of an independent body, AbilityNet, to advise us on where we could improve our digital estate, which has fundamentally changed how we work. But, we’re not stopping there. Here are just some of the ongoing steps we’re taking:

Dedicated resource allocation in every development sprint to ensure historic issues can be picked up and fixed, and further improvements made
Regular reviews of our ways of working to ensure accessibility
Expanding our Accessibility guardian programme, sharing knowledge across the organisation and offering accessibility training
Continued partnership with AbilityNet to ensure independent reviews are conducted on our major digital initiatives
Re-engaging with the charity sector later in 2020 to ensure people with disabilities can support our user-testing and directly input our digital initiatives

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22/09/2020. It was last reviewed on 22/09/2020

This website was last tested on 20/04/2020-23/04/2020. The test was carried out by AbilityNet.

12 pages from postoffice.co.uk were selected to be audited, representing pages that have high usage and that contain different representative types of component. Pages were tested against WCAG 2.1 A & AA on Windows desktop with Firefox and NVDA screen reader and on mobile using an iPhone with VoiceOver.

In addition, an audit of 14 key components in development was also conducted to ensure their accessibility before they are introduced to the live site.

A retest of issues that we had worked on was conducted by AbilityNet on 03/08/2020-07/08/2020.