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Accessibility Statement

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Document Legalisation Service

This accessibility statement applies to Get your Documents Legalised Service.

This website is run by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Accessibility

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

Feedback and contact information

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

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting 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 or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us.

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)

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Contact us

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 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 exemptions’ listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Disproportionate burden

The payment forms of our application are built and hosted through a third party software and we have no control on making changes which could improve accessibility:

Forms

Form fields have been used that are not labelled so screen reader users may find it difficult to determine its purpose when browsing both in and out of context. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) and 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A).

Some form fields have not been grouped together with a common label. This means that people that use a screen reader will find it difficult to understand the which form fields are related. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A).

Some form fields were not descriptive. This means that people that use a screen reader may find it difficult to understand the form fields purpose. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6 Headings and Labels – Level AA.

Mark-up

The correct roles and states have not been used on all areas of the service. This means that assistive technologies may not be able gather information about, activate or keep up to date with the status of controls. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).

The correct mark-up has not been used on some form fields. This means that assistive technologies may not be able to relay information to the user correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 Parsing (Level A).

Links

Links that open in a new window do not inform users that this will happen. This means that people can be disorientated when the new window appears. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.5 Change on Request (Level AAA).

There are skip links to skip users to form fields that contain errors that do not function as expected on the pages throughout the service. This means that people that navigate with a keyboard are unable to jump straight to the main content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (Level A).

Images

Non-descriptive alt text has been used on some images so people using a screen reader cannot understand the purpose of the image. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A).

Colour

The contrast of non-text content did not meet the expected ratio of 1.3:1 where borders on form fields were used. This means that it may be difficult for people with low vision and/or colour deficiencies to know where to input information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA).

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the above issues and changing the payment provider now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when we are able to change supplier.

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

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are planning further accessibility improvements based on the findings from a comprehensive accessibility audit that was carried out in September 2020 in the coming months beginning in October 2020. We will keep reviewing and looking to improve.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21st September 2020 . It was last reviewed on 05 October 2020.

This website was last tested on 17th September 2020. The test was carried out by The Digital Accessibility Centre and covered the following journeys, which are representative of the main templates used on the website.

Happy and unhappy paths were tested:

Business User

  1. Choose a service – Click the Start a premium application button
  2. Have you already got… - Select the No radio button then click Continue
  3. Create an account – Enter your work e-mails and choose a password
  4. Select the Yes radio button then enter ‘Digital Accessibility Centre’ for Company name
  5. Tick the tick boxes then click Create an account
  6. You will be sent an e-mail with a URL, click the URL to continue
  7. Sign in – The e-mail field should be pre-completed so enter the Password and then click Sign in
  8. Finish setting up your account – Enter dummy data, select the Yes radio button then click Continue
  9. Add an address to your account – Click Continue
  10. Add a return address – Select the Yes radio button then click Continue
  11. Enter postcode – Enter the work Postcode (SA10 6FG) and click Find UK address then select Digital Accessibility Centre, unit 18 from the dropdown before clicking continue
  12. My legalisation account – Click Start a new application
  13. Choose a service – Click the Start a premium application button
  14. Your Documents – Enter 1 into the form field then click Continue
  15. Additional information – Enter Test into the form field then click Continue
  16. Click the Sign out button

    17. Password Reset

  17. Sign in – Click the Forgotten your password? Link
  18. Forgot password – Enter the email registered with and click Reset password
  19. You will receive an email to reset your password, click on the link in the email
  20. Reset password – Enter your new password into both form fields then click Update password

    21. Make an additional payment for legalisation

  21. Sign in – Enter your email and password then click sign in
  22. Make an additional payment… - Enter 30.00 into the first Form field then enter your email and click Continue