Accessible documents policy

Accessible documents at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

This policy explains how accessible the documents the FCDO publishes on GOV.UK are. It covers PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations and other types of document. It does not cover content published on GOV.UK as HTML: the main GOV.UK accessibility statement will cover that.

Using our documents

The FCDO publishes documents in a range of formats, including PDFs, ODTs, ODS files, CSVs and PowerPoint slides.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use those documents. For example, when we produce a document we make sure to:

  • provide an HTML option where possible
  • tag headings and other parts of the document properly, so screen readers can understand the page structure
  • include alt text alongside non-decorative images, so people who cannot see them understand what they’re there for
  • avoid using tables, except when we’re presenting data
  • write in plain English

How accessible our documents are

New documents we publish and documents you need to download or fill in to access one of the services we provide should be fully accessible.

However, we know that some of our older documents (published before 23 September 2018) are not accessible. For example, some of them:

  • are just photocopies and are not marked up in a way that allows screen reader users to understand them
  • are not tagged up properly – for example, they do not contain proper headings
  • are not written in plain English

This mostly applies to our PDF documents. These types of documents are exempt from the regulations, so we do not currently have any plans to make them accessible.

But if you need to access information in one of these document types, you can contact us and ask for an alternative format.

What to do if you cannot use one of our documents

If you need a document we’ve published in a different format:

We’ll consider the request and get back to you as soon as we can.

Reporting accessibility problems with one of our documents

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you find any problems not listed on this page or you 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).

Technical information about the accessibility of our documents

FCDO is committed to making our documents accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

The documents FCDO publishes are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

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

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • some of our PDFs are not accessible as they are not tagged properly
  • some PDFs and Excel documents fail on the perceivable and operable WCAG2 criteria
  • for PDFs that fall within this category and do not represent a disproportionate burden (published after 23 September 2018), we will aim to update them by December 2024
  • some of our documents are scanned. Where possible will update these with accessible documents by December 2024
  • a few of our documents have diagrams. These images don’t have a text alternative, so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all diagrams by December 2024. When we publish new documents we’ll make sure our use of diagrams meets accessibility standards

Disproportionate burden

  • some of our PDFs are not accessible but would be a disproportionate burden to update, particularly those which are extremely long, used by a low number of people, and are not current guidance
  • many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDF, Word or Excel documents we publish will meet accessibility standards, by providing open format alternatives.

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

Many of our 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 does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By December 2024, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

How we tested our documents

We last tested a sample of our documents in October 2021. The test was carried out by FCDO staff.

We tested:

  • PDF, Word, Excel documents

We tested these types of document, as aside from HTML, as these are the most commonly used document formats the FCDO publishes online.

We plan to test another sample by September 2024.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We’re improving accessibility by:

  • working with colleagues across FCDO to improve awareness and understanding about accessibility and what they need to do to meet the regulations
  • encouraging the use of accessible HTML content to meet the needs of our audience
  • converting existing documents to HTML content focusing on our most used content
  • providing training and guidance to GOV.UK publishers on how to check documents are accessible
  • including accessibility as part of our ‘second pair of eyes’ checking process before publishing
  • auditing content published since September 2020 to identify where improvements can be made
  • completing ‘spot checks’ on recently published documents to ensure they are accessible

This page was prepared on 21 November 2021. It was last updated on 4 July 2024.

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