Accessibility Statement
This website is run by Arts Council England.
We are committed to making our website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
We believe that culture is universal in its appeal, and it should be made available to and enjoyed by, everyone, everywhere. That’s why we’ve worked hard to ensure that our website is accessible to people with disabilities. This in turn helps to create a more user friendly experience for all visitors to our site.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Compliance Status
We are currently auditing the accessibility of the website and will publish a complete statement by 01 November 2024.
What we’ve done to help accessibility
In order to reach a high level of accessibility, we work hard with our partners Accessible by Design to follow the international accessibility guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C WCAG 2).
In addition, and in recognition of the fact that following the guidelines is just one part of measuring accessibility, we work with real users to find out how people will be using our website, and what else we can do to make it easier to use.
Gaining feedback from our users is a high priority for us and it will remain an essential part of our website and digital strategy.
What we’ve done:
Keyboard accessibility: We’ve made sure that all functionality is accessible when using only a keyboard to navigate the website.
Screen reader accessibility: We’ve made sure that input fields in forms are all labelled properly, and user interface elements like tabs, are designed to be accessible for screen reader users.
Flexible layout: We have designed our website to be responsive, so that it works equally on computers, phones, and tablets. This also allows the site to scale easily as you zoom in, making it more usable.
Our writing: We are committed to presenting all of our written content in plain English. Find out more about this at gov.uk.
In addition, we strive to make the website more usable for everyone by:
- Making good use of headings, and white space, to make content easier to read
- Having a consistent navigation structure, so it is easy to tell where you are, and how to get elsewhere
- Using colours that provide good contrast; particularly important as we recognise that you may be reading our website on your phone and outside in the open
Feedback and contact information
You can request information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille.
This is the first version of our website and we will be refining the site’s accessibility as we add further functionality over the coming months and years.
We know that it is important to ensure accessibility is considered throughout this process. We will do everything we can to make our website more usable and accessible for everyone and will carry out regular reviews working with disabled and access user groups.
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.
If you have any feedback or are finding difficulties using our website please 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 have a complaint and are not happy with how we respond, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 16 October 2023, based on Arts Council England’s accessibility statement.
This statement was last reviewed and updated on 6 November 2023.
We are currently conducting a full accessibility audit and will publish an updated statement by 30 November.