Accessible documents policy
What the Forestry Commission is doing on accessibility and how it plans to meet accessibility regulations.
Accessible documents policy at the Forestry Commission
This policy explains how accessible the documents the Forestry Commission 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, or other external Forestry Commission products.
Using our documents
The Forestry Commission publishes documents in a range of formats, including:
- PDF forms
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- OpenDocument formats (for example .odt or .ods)
- CSV (Comma-Separated Values)
We want as many people as possible to be able to use those documents. For example, when we produce a document we aim to:
- provide an HTML or OpenDocument format option where possible
- make document titles and headings clear and meaningful
- create heading structure that follows a logical order
- avoid using tables, except when we’re presenting data
- write in plain English - although some content contains legal or technical language
- include a description for informative images and make sure they are formatted appropriately
- use descriptive link text so people understand the purpose of each link
- provide a summary explaining patterns and trends in graphs and charts
- avoid using directional text
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 accessible.
We know that some of our older documents (published before 23 September 2018) are not accessible. For example, some of them:
- have PDFs that are not tagged properly
- are not written in plain English
- are forms that are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- contain images with no description
- include complex tables
- are forms that have guidance in a separate PDF to help completion
This mostly applies to these document types:
- corporate reports
- technical guidance
- consultations and their supporting documents
- research and analysis reports
- statutory guidance
- forms
- statistics
- promotional material
Some 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:
email fs.comms@forestrycommission.gov.uk
Forestry Commission
Strategic Development Team (Information and Communications)
620 Bristol Business Park
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol
BS16 1EJ
We’ll consider the request and get back to you in 10 days.
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 our content team: fs.comms@forestrycommission.gov.uk and we will look into your comments.
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 Forestry Commission 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 Forestry Commission publishes are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA 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
We set out the reasons why some of our content is not accessible below. This also applies to content produced in 2018 and 2019 and therefore needs to be amended retrospectively.
We may identify that some content would be a disproportionate burden to fix. If we do, we will update this policy to include a section on Disproportionate Burden.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Some of our documents have diagrams with no text alternative. The information in these diagrams is not available to people using a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all diagrams.
Some of our documents have diagrams that do not meet the colour contrast ratio of at least 3:1. These diagrams may be difficult to see, or completely missed, by people with a visual impairment. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). We plan to fix our diagrams to meet colour contrast requirements.
A few of our documents have diagrams that use colour as the only means of conveying information. The information in these diagrams may not be perceived by users with colour vision deficiencies. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (use of colour). We plan to fix these so information is not only conveyed through colour, but also by another means.
Some of our forms do not have page functionality available for using a keyboard. This content cannot be operated through a keyboard or keyboard interface. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard). We plan to fix forms to meet the keyboard requirements.
Some of our documents are published in an unstructured PDF. Headings, list items and paragraphs may not be recognised by a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We plan to fix the documents and publish them with the appropriate structure.
Some of our spreadsheets may not be clearly structured with labelled tables, and labelled headings. Column headings may be blank. Workbook tabs may not have a clear title. This does not meet success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We plan to fix the documents and publish them with the appropriate structure.
Some of our documents are published using tables to lay out text in columns on the page. This often hides content from the navigation pane or table of contents. This does not meet success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels) or success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We will make sure that tables are not used to lay out text.
Content that is 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 documents contain maps. This does not meet a number of WCAG 2.1 success criteria, 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. 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 do not plan to fix research and analysis reports.
How we tested our documents
In January 2020 we audited all documents published since 23 September 2018. The Defra content team carried out the audit. As part of the audit we tested these documents to find accessibility issues.
We tested:
- PDF documents
- Microsoft Excel documents
We decided to test these types of document as, aside from HTML, these are the most commonly used document formats the Forestry Commission publishes online.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
The Forestry Commission is:
- updating corporate Word and PDF templates to an accessible format
- creating corporate reports as HTML rather than PDF where possible
- changing guidance documents from PDF to HTML and making them task based
- raising awareness across the organisation of the accessibility requirements
- converting to HTML (where possible) as documents come up for review
- training staff on meeting accessibility standards
- getting appropriate software to test PDFs and repair any issues reported