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Accessibility statement

Date created: 21 September 2020 | Last updated: 30 March 2023

Accessibility statement for the Serious Fraud Office website.

This accessibility statement covers the Serious Fraud Office website (https://sfo.gov.uk).

The SFO also hosts a number of secure questionnaires through a third party provider (Egress) and which are also covered in this statement. The main example of a secure questionnaire hosted by Egress is our “reporting fraud, bribery or corruption” form (https://sforeporting.egressforms.com/)

We want as many people as possible to be able to use these websites. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • modify the contrast, font size, line height or spacing of text
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

Feedback and contact information

Please contact us if you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +44 (0)20 7239 7272 (switchboard) and ask to be directed to the Communications team.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 20 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +44 (0)20 7239 7272 (switchboard) and ask to be directed to the Communications team.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We can accommodate the provision of a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment where required and we will arrange the details of these arrangements through our public enquiries team.

Please contact us before your visit to arrange for a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +44 (0)20 7239 7272 (switchboard) and ask to be directed to the Communications team.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Serious Fraud Office is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the following non-accessible content formats stated below.

Non-accessible content

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

  1. We are working with our web form providers to explore the provision of contrast, text size and spacing abilities on the SFO secure questionnaires hosted by Egress.
  2. The majority of documents hosted on the SFO website are now screen-readable web page content, however there are court documents and other PDFs which we currently do not host in an accessible format.

If you have difficulty in reading any content hosted on the SFO website, please contact us using the details below and we will provide you with a text based alternative.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +44 (0)20 7239 7272 (switchboard) and ask to be directed to the Communications team.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The majority of documents hosted on the SFO website are now screen-readable web page content, however there are court documents and other PDFs which we currently do not host in an accessible format.

The SFO hosts legal documents which were created by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, a Judge, or other legal procedure. Although most of the PDF’s are able to be read by a screen reader, we are currently exploring how we can accurately convert these to text based web pages and whether it is right to do so. Circumstances will always change and the SFO will be actively looking to resolve all accessibility issues.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Added focus styling to be visible when a keyboard user tabs through the interactive elements on the web page (WCAG 2.4.7 Focus visible), March 2023.

Updated styling of buttons and interactive elements when they are in focus/hover state (WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast minimum), March 2023.

Removed the duplicate links around the image and excerpt text of the news items on the homepage, March 2023.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 28 March 2023.

This website was last tested on 10 June 2021. The test was carried out by the Serious Fraud Office Digital Communications Officer.

Following tests completed and reviewed on 11 June 2021, the statement has been updated non-accessible issues including missing form labels and navigation to the main menu from the keyboard have now all been fixed. We are now planning to review the images and PDFs to ensure alternative tags and web versions are available respectively.

This website was tested on 30 March 2023 using Axe® and carried out by the Serious Fraud Office Communications Manager.

Methodology

Due to the relative size of the SFO website and the consistency in the formats currently available, the majority of content was tested against the standards, which built up a detailed understanding of immediate changes that could be made in regards to the website styling, as well as longer term projects that would focus on the prevention of any non-accessible content being hosted on the SFO website.  The documentation was logged using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard as a checklist and the content flagged in a spreadsheet against the relevant point. 

Identification and planning

The test first worked through the websites various post types which only contained text based web pages. A detailed log of style changes and some functionality adjustments were immediately made to the website across all instances of failure in August.

Images and other similar content were next identified and immediately provided with text alternatives for the graphics or images, or flagged to be provided with a text based alternative in August 2020. 

Documents; PDFs and other formats such as word and excel, were checked in August. This area of the website required some sampling to be used on the documents, however the consistency in the formats meant that the tester could flag all similar content as an issue without the need to check through each document. Once each type of document was sampled, documents were bulk flagged for closer inspection. Of these documents, 340 were found to be screen readable and meeting the accessibility standards. This issue was partially resolved in September 2020, and further work in 2021 ongoing as set out above.

Major accessibility revisions were made in December 2020, February 2021,  June 2021 and March 2023.