Accessible documents policy

This policy covers the accessibility of documents provided by Radioactive Waste Management.

Accessible documents at Radioactive Waste Management

There’s guidance to help you check the accessibility of documents.

This policy explains how accessible the documents Radioactive Waste Management 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 covers this.

Using our documents

Radioactive Waste Management publishes documents in a range of formats, including PDF, Open Standards Format, MS Excel and MS Word.

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
  • 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 that we publish and documents you need to download 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 not tagged up properly - for example, they do not contain proper headings or alt text
  • contain tables that include text rather than data
  • contain technical content that may not be written in plain English

This mostly applies to our corporate reports and attached files.

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 in 7 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: GDFenquiries@nda.gov.uk

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

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

[Note: say that your documents are fully compliant if they all meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standard in full. Say that they’re partially compliant if most of them meet the requirements of the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. If most of them do not meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standard, say that they’re not compliant. There’s a legally required form of wording here, so do not change it. The 3 options are as follows.]

The documents Radioactive Waste Management 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

A few of our documents have diagrams. These images do not have a text alternative, so the information in them is not available to people using a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

When we publish new documents from 23rd September 2019 we’ll make sure our use of diagrams meets accessibility standards.

A few of our documents are not created with headings. These documents are not structured logically, so the information in them cannot be navigated by people using a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).

When we publish new documents we’ll make sure our use of headings meets accessibility standards.

Post-23 September 2018

Some of documents post-23 September do not meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. We are working to bring these in line with the regulation as soon as possible. If you require any of these documents in accessible formats urgently, please follow the previous instructions under heading: ‘What to do if you cannot use one of our documents’. Please see a full list of post-23 September 2018 documents that may not meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

Disproportionate burden and Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Pre-23 September 2018

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).

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 our earlier Annual Reports and Accounts.

How we tested our documents

We last tested a sample of our documents on 20 September 2019. The test was carried out by Radioactive Waste Management. We tested: * a PDF * MS Word document * Spreadsheet

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are ensuring that all authors of documents that we publish externally are aware of the requirements to create accessible document, and we are training employees responsible for creating and publishing documents so that they can check that all future publications meet accessibility standards.

This page was prepared on 20 September 2019. It was last updated on 20 September 2019.

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