Accessible documents policy

Accessible documents at the Coal Authority

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

Using our documents

The Coal Authority publishes documents in a range of formats, including, but not limited to, PDFs, CSV, XML and Microsoft Word files.

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 a 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 a service 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 mapping data 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 in 3 working days to let you know when an alternative format can be expected.

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 Head of Customer Strategy and Insights, Karma Harvey at customerservice@coal.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

The Coal Authority 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 Coal Authority 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.

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 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 do not plan to fix The Coal Authority Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17.

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 July 2020.

We tested all of the downloadable forms which require users to complete the form and send information to us. Some of these forms were in Microsoft Word format and these have been converted into PDFs and tagged to make them accessible.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will be reviewing all other binary content published to our websites to ensure that it is accessible to users of assistive technology. Some of our content is map-based and as such is exempt from the regulations.

This page was prepared on 10 August 2020. It was last updated on 10 August 2020.

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