Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the Manage your vehicle testing service.

Contents

  1. Overview
  2. How accessible this website is
  3. Feedback and contact information
  4. Reporting accessibility problems with this website
  5. Enforcement procedure
  6. Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
  7. Technical information about this website’s accessibility
  8. Compliance status
  9. Disproportionate burden
  10. What we are doing to improve accessibility
  11. Preparation of this accessibility statement

Overview

This website is run by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • 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
  • use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

The text we’ve used is designed to be clear and easy to understand

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

  • Error messages and form submissions occur while inputting information when signing into the service
  • Keyboard focus may automatically move when signing into the service
  • Page titles and headings may not match when signing into the service
  • Page titles and headings may be missing when using our payment providers
  • Keyboard focus may automatically move when using our payment providers
  • Form labels may be missing when using our payment providers

Each department and agency which publishes content on GOV.UK is responsible for making sure it meets the accessibility regulations. We will update this statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.

Feedback and contact information

If you have difficulty using this service, contact us by:

As part of providing this service, we may need to send you messages or documents. We’ll ask you how you want us to send messages or documents to you, but contact us if you need them in a different format. For example, large print, audio recording or braille.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you experience a problem not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us: gov.uk/contact-dvsa

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, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter to help you complete the service in person.

Find out how to contact us at: gov.uk/contact-dvsa

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency 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

We intend to make our service compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. Non-compliant sections of our service are present where we have selected third-party technologies to facilitate security-critical actions, including authentication (signing in) and payment. Inaccessible content is described in detail below:

  • On input

    There was a change made that was actioned on input, as opposed to having users interact. WCAG 3.2.2 On input (level A):
    • When signing into the service, the input field on the ‘Confirm your email address’ page has an auto-update that activates and gives an error message to the user while their focus is still within the form field. This can cause issues for users who could be easily distracted by this update and become confused, as they have not yet finished inputting the data. This happens with other fields while signing into this service.
    • When signing into the service, the input field for the one-time phone code does not allow a user to enter the data and then continue at their own pace, as once the code has been entered, the page updates with either an error message or moves to the next page. This can cause confusion or disorientation for users, as they would expect a ‘Continue’ or ‘Submit’ button so that they can double check the code before moving on and avoid any errors or confusion.
    • When setting up a Direct Debit in the GoCardless service, when a screen reader user selects an address from the search results, their focus moves back to the start of the page. This can be confusing and disorientating for screen reader users, as they would expect their focus to either remain within the form field or to remain on the selected element.

  • Duplicated page titles

    Page titles were found to be duplicated between pages. WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled (level A):
    • When signing into the service, the page title for the ‘Sign in – Manage your vehicle testing’ page does not match the heading level one of the page, ‘Confirm your email address’. This could confuse screen reader users, as the first thing they hear when entering a new page is the page title. They would then be unsure as to why the page title and heading level one is different. The page title should inform users of the purpose of the page.

  • Visual headings

    There were visual headings found which were not programmatically marked up. WCAG 1.3.1 Info and relationships (level A):
    • When paying by card using the Capita payment service, on the ‘Card details’ page, the text of ‘Card details’ is a visual heading used to introduce page content. However, this has not been programmatically assigned a heading level to inform screen reader users of this context. Due to this, sighted users are getting context and information that screen reader users are not. This is due to there being no heading structure being provided programmatically on the ‘Card details’ page.

  • Focus when loading

    When loading the page, keyboard focus is placed within the page instead of at the start of the page. WCAG 2.4.3 Focus order (level A):
    • When signing into the service, upon loading the sign in page, a user’s focus is immediately placed into the ‘Your phone number’ field instead of at the beginning of the page. Users would expect their focus to be placed at the beginning of the page to allow them to navigate through the page as they would prefer. The focus is placed into the ‘Your phone number’ field because of the autofocus attribute contained within the ‘Your phone number’ input element.
    • When setting up a Direct Debit in the GoCardless service, a user’s focus is immediately placed into the ‘First name’ field, as opposed to at the beginning of the page. Users would expect their focus to be placed at the beginning of the page to allow them to navigate through the page as they would prefer. The focus is placed into the ‘First name’ field because of the autofocus attribute contained within the first name input element.

  • Unlabelled form field

    A visually hidden form field was found to be unlabelled. WCAG 1.3.1 Info and relationships (level A)/4.1.2 Name, role, value (level A):
    • When setting up a Direct Debit in the GoCardless service, there is a visually hidden form field placed just following the ‘Click here to enter IBAN’ button and prior to the label of ‘Post code’ which, while hidden visually, still appears programmatically for screen reader users. This could be confusing or disorientating, as they may not realise what this form field is for and attempt to interact with it.

  • Contrast (minimum)

    Colours were found which do not pass the contrast ratio required for contrast (minimum). WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast minimum (level AA):
    • When setting a up a Direct Debit in the GoCardless service, the buttons of ‘Click here to use a company name’, ‘Click here to enter IBAN’, and ‘Click here to enter your address manually’ all currently have a contrast ratio of 4.31:1 when comparing the button text to the surrounding background. This means that users with low vision or colour blindness may be unable to perceive where their focus is when it is on these buttons, or that these buttons exist. As the contrast is so low for these buttons, it can cause readers fatigue or headaches for users with colour blindness or low vision. The contrast ratio needs to meet at least 4.5:1 to pass contrast (minimum); however, we would advise this be higher to ensure a wider range of users are able to accurately understand and navigate the service.
    • When setting a up a Direct Debit in the GoCardless service, the placeholder text has a contrast ratio of 1.58:1 when comparing the text to the surrounding background. This means that users with low vision or colour blindness may be unable to read the placeholder text and, therefore, be unable to determine the format for data they are required to enter. As the contrast is so low for the placeholder text, it can cause readers fatigue or headaches for users with colour blindness or low vision. The contrast ratio needs to meet at least 4.5:1 to pass contrast (minimum); however, we would advise this be higher to ensure a wider range of users are able to accurately understand and navigate the service.

Disproportionate burden

Wherever possible, we have taken action to fix accessibility issues with our service. However, certain sections of our service – as described in the list above – provide little or no options for improvement and, as such, we will not directly fix them. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We will contact our payment and authentication providers to advise them of non-compliant areas of their technologies, to determine whether or not these issues can be fixed.

We will carry out on-going internal audits to check the accessibility of this service as well as taking feedback from users.

Any required changes will be planned into our continous improvement work for this service and added to a backlog of improvement goals and prioritised according to user need and cost.

This accessibility statement will be updated based on any issues we identify or any changes we make to address any issues raised.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared following an accessibility audit conducted by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) between 18 July and 29 July 2022.