Guidance

Accessibility statement for the Animal Movement Licensing System 2 (AMLS2)

Published 17 December 2024

Applies to England

This accessibility statement applies to the AMLS2 service.

This website is run by the RPA.

How accessible this website is

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

For people using only a keyboard, not all functionality – such as images which link to information – can be accessed. Additionally, there is no way to bypass blocks of content that is present across multiple pages, the edit field is automatically focused which can be navigationally disorientating as doesn’t start at the beginning and subheadings do not have a visible downward facing chevron to indicate drop-down links. Moreover, the site uses unexplained terminology, and you can see visually hidden links.

For people with low vision, the layout is badly formatted and when zoomed in, page contents spill off the sides. Controls and navigational buttons are not highlighted when hovered over in high contrast mode and content is missing to explain pages. Moreover, the site uses unexplained terminology, and you can see visually hidden links.

For people using screen readers, images do not give supplementary information and therefore users do not know whether the image is decorative and to be ignored or whether it’s functional and has information or a link. The layout is confusing as follows:

• no way to bypass blocks of content that is present across multiple pages
• headings are not in logical order or clearly structured
• items are not grouped and so users are unable to identify how items are related to each other and relationships between the table headers and the table data not relayed
• labels and fields are either missing or not programmatically associated with each other meaning that it is confusing to know what information is required and given examples are not identifiable
• functionally there is no indication whether search has been successfully submitted and updated
• no warning when being logged out due to timeout or when a link directs the user to a new tab

For people using voice control software, some labels are not contained in their related form element’s name, meaning that you may encounter barriers in trying to navigate through interactive elements. In addition, bold and colour used for emphasis which does not feed through, and images which link to information are not able to be accessed and terminology is used without explanation.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• email – bcmsamls@rpa.gov.uk

• call – 0345 053 0067

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 14 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: bcmsamls@rpa.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 this website’s accessibility

DEFRA 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 non-compliances’ listed in the section below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

All non-compliance with accessibility regulations are covered by disproportionate burden.

Disproportionate burden

To make AMLS2 fully compliant with WCAG 2.1, 230 pages (192 dynamic screens and 94 static screens) would need to be created. For the project implementation of both AMLS2 and CTS Online, one-time charges are estimated to be in the region of £2,000,000 to £3,800,000, excluding expenses and VAT.  In addition, there is a short timeframe left for this product.

Accordingly, we assert that the cost of updating AMLS2 would be a disproportionate burden.

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

Assistive technology may not be able to render text as accurately because the language is not able to be identified.

Keyboard only users: 

• there is no way to bypass blocks of content that is present across multiple pages
• edit field is automatically focused which can be navigationally disorientating as doesn’t start at the beginning
• visually hidden links showing
• subheadings do not have a visible downward facing chevron to indicate drop-down links
• images which link to information are not able to be accessed
• unexplained terminology

Service can be used but will encounter barriers.

Screen reader users:

• there is no way to bypass blocks of content present across multiple pages
• page titles are unspecific, meaning title is not able to be used to distinguish between pages
• no indication whether search has been successfully submitted and updated
• images do not give supplementary information. For example, whether the image is decorative and to be ignored or whether it’s functional and has information or a link
• unclear what information is required at times as it shows as ‘unlabelled’
• headings not in logical order / clearly structured
• visually hidden links showing
• bold and colour used for emphasis which does not feed through
• relationship between the table headers and the table data not relayed
• items not grouped so not able to identify how items are related to each other
• no alert when a link takes them into a new tab
• labels and fields not programmatically associated with each other
• logged off due to timeout without previous warning
• missing descriptive labels
• unexplained terminology
• examples not identifiable

Service can be used but will encounter barriers.

Voice activation users:

• fields have no accessible name by which they may be referenced via voice activation software
• visually hidden links showing
• bold and colour used for emphasis which does not feed through
• images which link to information are not able to be accessed
• unexplained terminology

Service can be used but will encounter barriers.

Low vision users:

• visually hidden links showing
• when zoomed in, page contents spill off the sides
• content missing to explain pages
• unexplained terminology
• badly formatted layout
• controls and navigational buttons not highlighted when hovered over in high contrast mode

Service can be used but will encounter barriers.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard, a screen reader, voice activation software or for those with low vision. Our forms are built and hosted through third party software.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in 2026.

You can read the disproportionate burden statement here.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7 May 2024.

It was last reviewed on 7 May 2024.

This website was last tested on 15 May 2023.

The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre.

We chose a sample of 10 pages to test as examples of the main page types used across the service.