Accessibility statement for the Bank of England digital archive website
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.
How accessible this website is
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 video content does not have captions, transcriptions or audio descriptions
- some graphics elements have low colour contrast
- some interactive elements are not conveyed to assistive technology
- some elements may not have a clear focus indicator visible
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact:
- [email protected]
- write to us at Archive, Bank of England, Threadneedle St, London, EC2R 8AH
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working 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 this website’s accessibility
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.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- Some sections of the website do not operate correctly if CSS is disabled. This could cause issues for users that rely solely on HTML to engage with the content. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 3.1
- The role and state of some interactive elements are not conveyed to assistive technology. This issue falls under the WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.2
- PDFs are not all labelled in a non-descriptive way. This means that it is not possible for users to understand the contents of the PDFs using the file name alone. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 3.1
- Some link text does allow the purpose of the links to be identified from link text alone. This could be unclear or confusing for some users. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 4.9
- The majority website can be operated using only a keyboard, but the focus of some interactive elements is not immediately obvious on all pages. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 4.7
- Not all functionalities can be operated with a keyboard alone. This could present issues for the users that rely solely on keyboard navigation and operation. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3
- It is not possible to bypass blocks of content on some pages. This may be difficult for people with some disabilities to reach the main content of a web page quickly and easily. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 4.1
- Navigation around the website is limited. This approach does not cater for users with different navigation preferences and needs. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.5
- There is an area where keyboard only users will find themselves unable to navigate beyond this area, causing them to be trapped. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.1.2 (A), 2.4.3 (A)
- Page content is missing when the page is magnified to 300% or greater using browser zoom functionality. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 4.10 (AA)
- There are visually hidden elements that receive keyboard focus. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.3 (A)
- Elements do not have an associated label. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA), 3.3.2 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
- There are instances where errors in forms are not conveyed to assistive technology. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 3.3.1 (A)
- There is an instance where a status message is injected into the page following an action such as triggering the ‘Submit’ button. This message is not announced by screen readers. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 4.1.3 (A)
- There are instances where a table has been used to present tabular data without column/row header markup WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A)
- There are instances where there is not enough contrast between foreground text and background colours. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.4.3 (AA)
- A skip link is not present. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.1 (A)
- There are instances where the page title is uninformative/incomplete. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.2 (A)
- The error messages do not provide enough information to help users correct the error on some of the input fields. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 3.3 (AA)
- Input fields that collect user data do not have the autocomplete attribute. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 3.5 (AA)
- There are instances where non-interactive elements incorrectly receive keyboard focus and are part of the focus order. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.3 (A)
- There are links that open in a new window without warning users that the link will open a new window. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.4 (A), 3.2.2 (A)
- There are instances where an image is nested in a link and does not have the correct alternative text. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.4 (AA)
- There are instances where lists have not been marked up semantically. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A)
- There are images that do not have a text alternative. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A)
- There are instances where text content bleeds out of its container when the user overrides text spacing in their browser. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.4.12 (AA)
- Pagination not conveyed to assistive technology users. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
- There are interactive elements that do not have the correct semantic mark-up to convey their purpose to assistive technology. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
- The breadcrumb trail is not very clear when using the screen reader. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
- The two search forms on the page contain duplicate form labels. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 2.4.6 (AA)
- The iFrame title is missing a label. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.1.1 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
- There is a heading that does not contain content (empty). WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA)
- On the form, most of the required form controls have a visible marking of an asterisk for required fields. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 4.1.2 (A)
- The language of the Cookies modal is not identified correctly using the lang attribute. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 3.1.1 (A), 3.1.2 (AA)
- Users are not able to magnify the page on mobile as zooming has been disabled. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.4.4 (AA)
- Form labels not explicitly associated with form elements. WCAG 2.2 violation(s): 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA), 3.3.2 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
Disproportionate burden
Not applicable.
Content that’s outside the scope of the accessibility regulations
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.
Reproductions of items in heritage collections are also exempt from meeting the accessibility regulation.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 10/01/2024.
This website was last tested in June 2024 by the Bank of England web team and last audited by the RNIB in February 2024. The test was carried out manually and using automated testing tools on a variety of representative samples of pages from across the website.
