Guidance

Accessibility statement for Companies House Webchat

Updated 6 October 2026

This statement applies to the ‘Webchat’ service.

This website is run by Companies House. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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 the website are not fully accessible:

• chat messages will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window 
• you may be timed out after a short period of inactivity and be required to start the chat again 
• some of the additional content displayed on the page may not be announced automatically by screen readers 
• the focus order is not always logical when navigating the site using a keyboard 
• screen readers may be unable to announce the purpose of the chat message form field 

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our services. If you find any problems not listed on this page or have difficulty using any part of this service, contact Companies House.

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

Companies House 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

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• The form field used to enter a chat message on the ‘Chat Interface’ page does not have a correctly associated text label. Screen readers may be unable to announce the purpose of this field to users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-Text Content). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• Radio buttons used for chat survey and feedback questions following a live chat are not grouped programmatically. Screen reader users may be unable to determine which options relate to each question. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• A ‘main’ landmark is missing from both the ‘Pre-Chat Form’ and ‘Chat Interface’ pages. In addition, the chat message form field is unexpectedly contained within a ‘contentinfo’ landmark, and some content on the ‘Pre-Chat Form’ page is not contained within any landmark. This may make it more difficult for screen reader users to identify and navigate to different regions of the pages. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• No heading at level one is present on the ‘Chat Interface’ page. This may prevent screen reader users from easily identifying the main page heading and navigating efficiently to the primary content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• Appropriate autocomplete attributes are missing from form fields requesting personal information on the ‘Pre-Chat Form’ page. This may prevent browsers from identifying the purpose of the fields and automatically completing them for users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.5 (Identify Input Purpose). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• Some text within the ‘End Chat’ dialog does not have sufficient contrast against the page background. This may make the content difficult for some users to read. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• When the ‘Chat Interface’ page is viewed at 400% browser zoom in a 1280-pixel wide viewport, some content, including chat messages and responses, is missing. This may prevent users who rely on browser zoom or use smaller screen sizes from accessing all of the conversation. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• The boundary of the chat message form field on the ‘Chat Interface’ page does not have sufficient contrast against the page background. This may make the field difficult for some users to identify. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-Text Contrast). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• A timeout occurs after a short period of inactivity without any warning. No mechanism is provided to turn off, adjust, or extend the time limit. Users who need more time to complete tasks may be required to re-enter their details and begin a new chat. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion (2.2.1 Timing Adjustable). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• Content on the ‘Chat Interface’ page is presented within an iframe that does not have a descriptive title attribute. Screen reader users may therefore be unable to identify the iframe’s content without navigating into it. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• The page title of the ‘Pre-Chat Form’ page does not describe the page’s topic or purpose. This may make it difficult or more time-consuming for screen reader users and users with multiple browser tabs open to identify the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• The focus order on the ‘Chat Interface’ page is not logical, with focus moving to interactive elements in a different order from the one in which they are visually presented. This may make the page difficult or confusing for keyboard-only users to navigate. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• The keyboard focus indicator is not always clearly visible on the ‘Chat Interface’ page. Some interactive components have focus indicators that lack sufficient contrast or are missing entirely. This may make it difficult for keyboard-only users to identify which element has focus and maintain their position on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• The accessible names of buttons within the ‘End Chat’ dialog do not contain their visually displayed text labels. Users of some speech recognition technologies may therefore be unable to interact with these buttons using their visible names. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.3 (Label in Name). We plan to resolve this by: October 2026.
• Chat feedback survey questions that appear following a live chat are not announced automatically by screen readers. Screen reader users may therefore be unaware that new questions have appeared and might need to navigate through the page manually to locate them. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.3 (Status Messages). We plan to resolve this by: November 2026.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

To improve this service’s accessibility, we:

• work with real users who have accessibility issues to make sure that our services meet their needs
• carry out internal tests for compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 level A and level AA
• recruit users through our user panel and agencies to take part in usability sessions
• build and test our services to meet government accessibility requirements

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 29 September 2026.

This website was last tested on 23 July 2026. The test was carried out by Zoonou. 

Zoonou used WCAG-EM to define the screens tested and test approach.