Accessibility

We are committed to making our website accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of technology or ability. Accessibility is an ongoing process, and we are actively working to improve the usability and accessibility of our site.

Standards and guidelines

This website aims to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers, assistive technologies, or alternative input devices. Conformance with these guidelines also helps make the website more user-friendly for all visitors.

What we’ve done to improve accessibility

  • The site is built with semantic HTML and CSS compliant with W3C standards to support consistent display across modern browsers and devices.
  • Text and images follow recognised colour contrast requirements to ensure clear, comfortable reading.
  • The website supports keyboard navigation for users who cannot use a mouse.
  • A skip-to-content link is available at the top of each page, allowing keyboard and screen reader users to move directly to the main content.
  • Images include alternative text where appropriate to convey meaning for screen-reader users, and we regularly review new content to ensure recently added images also receive clear, helpful descriptions.
  • Forms, including the “Share Your Story” form, include labels and instructions to guide users as they complete them.
  • We test key pages and components on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices to help ensure a consistently accessible experience across platforms.

Ongoing improvements

Accessibility is an ongoing process. We regularly review our website to ensure it remains accessible and implement updates in line with current best practices.

Feedback

If you encounter accessibility barriers or have suggestions to improve our site, please let us know. You can contact us at:

Email: dpa@gov.scot
Address: Data Protection Officer, Data Protection and Information Assets Team, V Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD

We will do our best to respond to accessibility requests promptly and provide information in an accessible format where possible.