Accessibility statement for public Animal and Plant Health services
The Vet Gateway is changing - find out more in our news story.
This statement applies to content published on the www.apha.defra.gov.uk domain. This website is run by the APHA Webmaster. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. The text should be clear and simple to understand. You should be able to:
- zoom in up to 300% without problems
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- use most of the website using a screen reader.
How accessible this website is
Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:
- some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
- some documents have poor colour contrast
- some heading elements are not consistent
- some buttons are not correctly identified
- some error messages are not clearly associated with form controls
- many documents are in PDF format and the majority of them are accessible
Each department which publishes content on the www.apha.defra.gov.uk domain are responsible for making sure it meets the accessibility regulations. We will update the statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.
Feedback and contact information
Tell us if you need information in a different format by emailing webmaster@apha.gov.uk
In your message, include:
- the web address (URL) of the content
- your email address and name
- the format you need - for example, plain text, braille, BSL, large print or audio CD
- if you need a PDF in an accessible format
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting the accessibility requirements, contact us.
Enforcement procedure
If you contact us with a complaint and you’re not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
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’).
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 (w3.org) AA standard.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- The change in the default written language is not correctly identified on some pages. This means screen readers will not read content correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.2 (Language of Parts).
- Some features are inconsistently named, for example accordions, tables of contents, search boxes and translation navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.4 (Consistent Identification).
- Some pages cannot be found through more than one type of navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways).
- Some buttons look like links. This means it is difficult for some users to complete a transaction or onward journey. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
- Some pages have inconsistently-placed language navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.4 success criterion (Consistent Identification).
- Some pages have poor colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour).
- Some documents are in less accessible formats, for example PDF. Non-HTML documents published on or after 23 September 2018 must have an accessible format.
- Some pages you cannot zoom in 400% and in mobile view (320 x 256 pixels), the webpages does not reflow correctly as the user has to scroll horizontally to see full content. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow
- The keyboard tab is not visible on some of the webpages. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible
- Some elements do not have sufficient colour contrast, this fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)
- Some links do not have discernible text. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
PDFs and non-HTML documents
Many documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure. In some instances alternative text is not available this fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content.
Some PDF documents do not contain a page title. This fails WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled.
Some PDFs have a poor colour contrast. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum).
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Non-HTML documents published before September 2018 do not need to be accessible - unless users need them to use a service.
How we tested this website
We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.2 level A and level AA to test how accessible this website is.
We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to decide on a sample of pages to test.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
The content is being moved to a compliant website and transition has begun. Further content will be moved during October 2024 and all content moved by 20 January 2025 where all accessibility issues will be met. The APHA Vet Gateway will cease to exist beyond Feb 2025. We believe that fixing the problems causing content to be non-accessible would be disproportionate.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 03 October 2024.
This website was last tested in October 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. This test of a representative sample of pages.