This accessibility statement applies to the CPS Advocate Portal website.
This website is run by the Crown Prosecution Service. 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 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
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet (opens in a new window) 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:
• You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• You cannot modify the colours, contrast or font size
• some PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• some parts of the online form are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• some form fields are not fully accessible to screen reader software
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format please contact
advocate.panels@cps.gov.uk.
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
advocate.panels@cps.gov.uk.
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 Crown Prosecution Service 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 2.1 (opens in new window) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Retention of your personal data
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Issues with images
Some images or icons do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
We plan to add text alternatives for all images in an update to the site by December 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Issues with third-party applications
We use a third-party application which uses form functions which might not all be fully accessible, but the third-party companies are either in the process of reviewing their applications.
Navigation and accessing information
The accordions used to expand or hide sections of the application form require the user tabbing twice to reach the first piece of content in the section.
Some guidance text is not always read out by screen readers.
It’s not possible for users to extensively magnify the screen without some of the content overlapping.
Some heading elements of pages are skipped by screen readers and this fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).
Issues with forms
One of our forms contains fields that are not grouped together this fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 3.3.2 (labels or instructions).
We aim to address this in our next release before December 2020.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We are working with our suppliers to address the accessibility of widgets that currently cause issues and are redesigning the formatting templates we use.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 26th August 2020 It was last reviewed on 25th August 2020.
This website was tested on 31st July 2020. The test was carried out by Sight and Sound. Additional in-house testing is incorporated within our development processes and was last completed on 21st August 2020.
We use Webaim’s WAVE tool to check for accessibility in addition to the use of third party software Dragon and JAWS to test keyboard and speech navigation.