Accessibility

  • This website is run by the Bank of England. We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website. For example, that 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 to most of the website using 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.

  • We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

    • some documents are in PDF and other formats and are not fully accessible
    • some interactive elements are not conveyed to assistive technology
    • Content missing when magnified to 400%
    • Interactive elements with incorrect semantics
    • Tab panel incorrectly marked up for screen reader users
    • Elements inaccessible on mobile
    • Hidden elements receive focus on mobile

  • If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us by email Pra.FirmEnquiries@bankofengland.co.uk

    We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 28 days.

  • 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).

  • The Bank of England is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

  • This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

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

    Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

    Interactive elements with incorrect semantics

    At certain times (when there are additional messages to publish) the Rulebook uses a Carousel on the homepage. This Carousel has incorrect semantic mark-up to convey the purpose to assistive technology. Screen reader users may have difficulty using this functionality as the purpose of the interactive element is not clear. This issue falls under the 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A), 4.1.2 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Linked image missing alternative text

    There are instances where images do not have the correct alternative text (alt attribute) that describes the link destination and image. Screen reader users may not be able to understand the purpose of the image link. This falls under 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.4 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Elements inaccessible on mobile

    There are elements which are inaccessible to screen reader users on iOS. Screen reader users will not be able to interact with these elements and use them. This issue falls under the 2.1.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Content missing when magnified to 400%

    Page content is missing when the page is magnified to 300% or greater using browser zoom functionality. The required zoom is up to 400% of the default size without loss of content nor requiring scrolling in more than one direction. Users with visual impairments who need to zoom the page to understand content fully may have difficulty continuing the journey as the page is missing content and/or it overlaps. This issue falls under the 1.4.10 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Tab panel incorrectly marked up for screen reader users

    There are instances where the tab panel to display content, such as ‘Effective’ and ‘Future’ rulebook and ‘Grid view’ and ‘List view’, has not been marked up correctly.  These options are announced as two separate tab panel elements rather than as one tab panel.  Screen reader users will not be able to understand the purpose of the component, how to interact with it and may not be able to access the content it contains.  This issue falls under the 2.4.4 (A), 4.1.2 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Menu incorrectly marked up for keyboard and screen reader users

    There are several issues with the main navigation megamenu component:

    • The link to menu pages and the button to open the submenus are not combined.
    • The menu item, “Rulebook”, receives focus but does nothing when triggered. The user has to tab forward to the element next to it, to expand its submenu (chevron down-arrow icon).
    • The navigation submenus remain open after focus moves away from them.
    • On IOS, the focus moves to the bottom of the page when triggering the main megamenu sub-submenu buttons which makes navigating through the menu very difficult as these items do not receive focus. This issue has been raised under the mobile section, see, ‘Elements inaccessible on mobile’ for further details.

     
    This issue falls under the 2.4.3 (A), 4.1.2 (A); additionally on mobile 2.1.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Empty headings

    There are headings in the Footer that do not contain content (empty).

    Screen reader users may be confused when encountering headings that are empty. This falls under the 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Target size of carousel’s navigation buttons insufficient

    On the carousel of the homepage of the website, the navigation button of each slide is not big enough or does not offer enough space between each button.

    Users who have problems with precise movements, such as tremors or other motor disabilities, may find it difficult to interact with these buttons without accidentally activating the adjacent button.

    Similarly, users on a mobile device will have the same challenges with these buttons. They may not realise that they can pinch-zoom the page to gain access to the button. This falls under 2.5.8 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Lists not marked up correctly

    There are instances where lists have not been marked up semantically.  Also, where only one item is present, the screen reader announces more than one item is present.

    Screen reader users will not know how many linked items are available within a column heading.  Also, without exploring the page, screen reader users will not know to which column/heading section the linked item belongs to. This falls under 1.3.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Elements inaccessible by keyboard

    The date picker component cannot be accessed by only the keyboard. Keyboard only users will not be able to navigate to the elements and use them. However, the date can still be input within the text field. This falls under 2.1.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Modal title not conveyed to screen reader users

    On pages where the Glossary modal is present, when the modal opens, the modal’s title is not announced. Screen reader users may be unable to identify the purpose of the modal(s) and may have difficulty interacting with it.  They have to explore the area using the arrow keys to ascertain its purpose. This falls under 1.1.1 (A), 4.1.2 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Missing form fieldset

    There are instances where related form controls are not grouped using a fieldset with a legend. This applies, but is not limited to, multiple checkboxes or radio buttons.

    Screen reader users may find it hard to understand the purpose and relationship of the form controls, making completing forms more difficult. This falls under 1.1.1 (A), 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA), 3.3.2 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Illogical focus order

    There are instances where the focus does not follow a logical order:

    • On the Rulebook rule content page and Part page handbook, the ‘History timeline’ links for each date on the indicator receive focus twice.
    • On the Sector landing page when the filtered results are presented - Interaction with the ‘Search this area’ component or the date picker, when the filtered results are loaded, the keyboard focus is just above the ‘Search this area component’, rather than at the ‘number of results found’ (e.g. text element, 53 results).  A similar behaviour occurs when interacting with the filters ‘Effective’ and ‘Future’ rulebooks.
    • On the Glossary page, a similar behaviour also occurs with interaction with the date picker and the A-Z filter component.  Focus is not placed next to the newly loaded results.
    • On the Site Search listing page, when the filter results are displayed, focus is at the top of the page.

     
    Keyboard only users may have difficulty navigating the page due to the focus order not behaving as expected. This falls under 1.3.2 (A), 2.4.3 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Elements that visually convey heading meaning do not match semantic heading markup

    There are numerous text elements that appear to be a heading but are not using the semantic heading markup. Screen reader users may be unaware of the informative importance of these text elements as they do not have the same prominence that they do visually. This falls under 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Redundant links (Mobile)

    There are instances where adjacent links go to the same URL. Having multiple links that go to the same URL can cause confusion for users, especially those with cognitive disabilities. Also, it makes it more time consuming for users to navigate the page as they must swipe multiple times. This falls under 2.4.4 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    Hidden elements receive focus

    There are instances where elements that are visually hidden receive keyboard focus.

    Screen reader users could find it difficult to use the page. This falls under 2.4.3 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

    We are actively working to address these issues as part of an ongoing plan to improve the accessibility of this website.

  • Not applicable.

  • PDFs and other documents

    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. For example, we do not plan to fix Legal Instrument PDFs.

  • This website was last tested on 04/03/2024 by the RNIB. A representative sample of pages were tested across the website with varying functionality.

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