Guidance

Accessibility statement for Government Internal Audit Agency

Published 28 October 2020

This policy explains how accessible the documents GIAA 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.

1. Using our documents

GIAA publishes documents in a range of formats, including Portable Document Format (PDF) and HTML. 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
• avoid using tables, except when we’re presenting data
• write in plain English

2. 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 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 are not written in plain English
• some images do not have image descriptions
• many documents are in PDF format and are not 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: correspondence@giaa.gov.uk
• call: 0772 1241 566

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

3. 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: correspondence@giaa.gov.uk

4. 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 are not happy with how we respond to your concerns, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

5. Technical information about the accessibility of our documents.

GIAA 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 GIAA publishes are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below (refer to point 6).

6. Non accessible content

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

• Non compliance with the accessibility regulations
• some of our PDFs are not accessible as they are not tagged properly and are missing alt text
• some of our links are not linked through in the correct way because the url has been pasted after the text
• some of our documents are scans. We will update these with accessible documents as soon as possible
• some of our documents are excel documents, which are not as accessible as .CSV or .ODS files
• 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).

We plan to add text alternatives for all diagrams going forwards. When we publish new documents we’ll make sure our use of diagrams meet accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

Some of our PDFs are not accessible but would be a disproportionate burden to update, particularly those which are extremely long and used by a low number of people.

Accessible versions will be provided if needed and can be requested through the above contact details or the request button on screen.

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. 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. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

7. Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Note: In this subsection, list:

• 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).

We plan to add HTML documents by December 2020. When we publish new documents, we’ll make sure to add an HTML alternative document.

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

8. How we tested our documents

We last tested a sample of our documents on 23/10/2020. The test was carried out by the communication team at Government Internal Audit Agency. We tested: PDF documents Note: We tested PDF documents as these are the only type of documents we upload.

9. What we’re doing to improve accessibility

When GIAA publish PDF documents they will be accompanied by an HTML version.

By December 2020, we will ensure all future documents are published in accessible formats where possible. We will be adding text to all diagrams, tagging documents properly and making documents which do not represent a disproportionate burden.

This page was prepared on 28 October 2020.