Introduction

This statement applies to www.obr.uk.

This website is run by the Office for Budget Responsibility. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 400% 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
  • change the colours and contrast levels with assistive technologies
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader
  • change the line, text spacing and web page colour contrast using assistive technologies

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. For example:

  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • you can’t modify the font’s typeface
  • some heading elements are not consistent
  • some links with the same name have a similar purpose
  • some page content is not contained by landmarks
  • there’s a limit to how far you can magnify third-party embedded interactive charts and maps, and some cannot be fully navigated by using a keyboard

Feedback and contact information

If you need information in a different format email [email protected] and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need, for example, accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, email us for directions.

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 the Strategy, Operations and Communications team at [email protected].

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

The Office for Budget Responsibility 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 and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Interactive charts

Some third-party interactive charts in the Forecasts in-depth area are not fully accessible. Some elements overlap when zoomed and cannot be navigated fully using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard) and 1.4.10 (reflow). As the interactive charts are developed by a third party, some issues may not be possible to resolve as they are not within our control and therefore will become exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We will reassess this by 26 May 2022 and update this accessibility statement accordingly.

Box set carousel

The carousel that displays our box analysis on each publication page is not fully accessible. It is only partially navigable by keyboard and some elements are not fully visible at 200% zoom. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard) and 1.4.4 (resize text). We aim to resolve this by 26 May 2022.

Disproportionate burden

Detailed audit

Guidelines recommend an external audit should be procured to test a website’s compliance on a sample of pages and content.

We’ve assessed the cost of outsourcing the audit. We believe that doing so currently would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

We continue to run regular internal testing as described in the ‘How we tested this website’ section below to check our website is compliant. Therefore, we believe the benefit to the user of outsourcing an audit is low. We will make another assessment at the start of each financial year or, if we receive a multi-year budget, as soon as possible after the budget is settled, whichever comes first.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDF documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDF documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing services. For example, we do not plan to fix historical letters and FOIs.

Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video and pre-recorded video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams or pre-recorded video published before 23 September 2020 because these are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Maps

We use an interactive, third-party map on the international engagement page that is not fully accessible as it cannot be navigated fully using a keyboard. As it is a map and developed by a third-party, it is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. The contents of the map (countries and links to websites) are available on the page.

How we tested this website

This website was and is currently being tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA, and these tests have been carried out internally.

We carry out quarterly checks using a mixture of automated tools (such as WAVE (Website accessibility evaluation tool), aXe-core 4.2.0 and Webaccessibility.com) and manual checks with assistive technologies (such as Google Chrome screen reader, Silktide Disability Simulator and text spacing bookmarklet) to highlight issues on a sample of pages.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10 August 2020. It was last updated on 24 March 2022.

This website was last tested in February 2022. The test was carried out internally.

Our approach to deciding on a sample of pages was to test the most visited or prominent pages on the website.