Accessibility statement for ‘Apply for a licence to provide sanctioned trade services’ service.

This statement applies to the ‘Apply for a licence to provide sanctioned trade services’ service.

This service is part of the wider GOV.UK website. There's a separate accessibility statement for the main GOV.UK website.

This service is run by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). We want as many people as possible to use it. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • get from the start of the service to the end using just a keyboard or speech recognition software
  • listen to the service 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.

Feedback and contact information

If you need accessibility support to access this service, email DBT-OTSI@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we do not meet accessibility requirements, contact us. We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 20 days.

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 the accessibility of this service

DBT is committed to making this service accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This service is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 AA standard.

Non-accessible content

Some of the content is not accessible for the following reasons:

  • focus order: in some of the questions, keyboard-only and screen reader users are placed into the main contents region, instead of the start. This is disorienting, as users may not know there is content above their position
  • aria value: in some of the questions, an aria-controls attribute is present for the ‘no’ radio button and it has an invalid value. This could stop screen reading software from reading content and programmatically matching it
  • incorrect lists: users are able to change information they’ve input, but the hyperlink to do so is contained in a list that has an erroneous element. This means assistive technology will not be able to correctly relate the elements, and it could cause navigation problems for users
  • illogical headings: on the ‘check your answers’ page, screen reader users will encounter a heading order that’s inconsistent with how the headings appear visually
  • grouped form controls: some questions have multiple checkboxes for users to select an answer. Visually, these are grouped beneath the question, but screen reader users will not hear the grouping because the <legend> element is not present

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

There are some usability issues that fall outside the scope of the UK accessibility regulations. These include:

  • some of the colour combinations do not meet enhanced contrast ratios and may be difficult for people with colour vision deficiency to read
  • error prevention is low in some places, which means users may accidentally submit incorrect information
  • users of speech recognition software may find it difficult to start a file upload, and may need to use keyboard or mouse commands instead
  • when an error message appears, keyboard users may not be able to skip straight from the error summary to the input field where the error occurred
  • some error messages do not fully describe the error that occurred and how to fix it

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We’re working hard to resolve the accessibility issues and will publish an updated version of this statement to confirm full compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA-standard, as soon as possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2024. It was last reviewed on 9 October 2024.

This service was last tested on 2 September 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC).