Accessible documents policy

Accessible documents at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency

This policy explains how accessible the documents the Maritime and Coastguard Agency 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

We publish documents in a range of formats, including:

  • PDFs
  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
  • CSV (Comma-Separated Values)
  • OpenDocument format

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

  • provide an HTML option where possible
  • tag headings and other parts of the document properly, so screen readers can understand the page structure
  • make sure we 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This mostly applies to our closed consultations, withdrawn documents and transparency documents. These types of documents are exempt from the regulations, so we don’t 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 can’t use one of our documents

Contact us if you need a document we’ve published in an alternative format.

Please let us know how you would like us to send you messages and documents. For example, audio recording or large print.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 28 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with one of our documents

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. Contact us if you find any problems not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements,

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

The Maritime Coastguard Agency 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 the Maritime Coastguard Agency publishes are not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-accessible sections are listed below.

Non accessible content

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

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some documents we publish are produced for us by third parties. We are not always able to make these fully compliant. For example, ensuring sufficient contrast between text and background. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 contrast (minimum).

We have informed third parties of our accessibility requirements but sometimes we publish documents that are not accessible to meet deadlines. We try to:

  • fix these as soon as we can after publishing
  • also upload an ODT version of the inaccessible document

Some content must be produced in formal government templates. These templates may not be accessible. We will revisit the accessibility of these documents as new accessible templates are released. For example, corporate report documents. Contact us if you need these documents in an alternative format.

For the benefit of users who print out documents, some PDF documents may contain URL links written out in full rather than hyperlinked descriptive text. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 link purpose (in context).

Disproportionate burden

We are not able to make some technical papers and guidance documents compliant. These documents are complex, technical and intended for a specialist audience. For example, instructions for the guidance of surveyors. Contact us if you need these documents in an alternative format.

Some programmes and initiatives we run will end soon. We consider the length of time that programmes and initiatives have left to run when fixing the accessibility of documents. We prioritise work on programmes and initiatives that will run for longer. Contact us if you need these short-term documents in an alternative format.

We publish some documents as ‘drafts for comment’. We may not make these documents accessible if they are technical and intended for a specialist audience. We will make the ‘final versions’ of these documents accessible. Contact us if you need these documents in an alternative format.

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

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 2.4.10 (section headings).
  • do not contain alternative text for diagrams and/or images – this does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1
  • use images of text, rather than plain text – this does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5

Some of our documents contain maps. This does not meet a number of WCAG 2.1 success criterion, 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. We will consider the use of maps in our documents and provide a text alternative if appropriate.

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 September 2020, 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. For example, we don’t plan to fix our annual reports and accounts.

For any new PDFs or Word documents we publish, we plan to meet accessibility standards.

How we tested our documents

We last tested a sample of our documents in August and September 2019. Staff at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency carried out the test. We tested:

  • PDF documents

We decided to test these types of document, as aside from HTML, these are the most commonly used document formats the Maritime and Coastguard Agency publishes online.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

To improve the accessibility of our GOV.UK documents, we are:

  • publishing in HTML by default where possible, rather than PDF
  • developing guidance and procedures to ensure that new documents we produce are accessible
  • changing guidance documents from PDF to HTML, converting as documents come up for review
  • raising awareness across the organisation of the accessibility requirements
  • training staff on meeting accessibility standards

This statement was prepared on 20 September 2019. It was last updated on 22 November 2021.

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