Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for The National Lottery Community Fund website

This accessibility statement applies to The National Lottery Community Fund (the Fund) website at https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

This website is run and maintained by the Fund. Whatever your needs or abilities, you can expect equal access when applying for our funding. We’re happy to give you extra support if you need it. For example, you might need information in a different way, or may need extra time when talking to us.

On our website, you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate using just a keyboard
navigate using speech recognition software
use a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).

We've also tried to make the website content easy to understand.

The AbilityNet website has advice on how to make your device easier to use if you’re disabled.

How accessible this website is

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

most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
some of our application forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

there are decorative images that make it difficult to navigate when using a screen reader.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, you can contact us. For example, we can provide information in an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of the website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page, or think this website is not meeting accessibility requirements, email us at webmaster@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

To help us understand and solve the problem, try to include as much as you can of the information described at Contacting Organisations about Inaccessible Websites.

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. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

If you’re in Northern Ireland and are not happy with how we respond to your complaint you can contact the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland who are responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 in Northern Ireland.

Contacting us by phone

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. You can contact us on:

18001 plus 0345 410 2030 (England)
18001 plus 028 9055 1431 (Northern Ireland)
18001 plus 0300 123 7110 (Scotland)
18001 plus 0300 1230735 (Wales)
18001 plus 0345 410 2030 (for projects that work across the UK).

BSL users can contact us using:

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Fund 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

The Fund website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some audio and video content does not have captions or transcripts. If a transcript is not available when new audio or video content is published, we aim to add one as soon as possible afterwards. We're currently creating transcripts of older content. This fails WCAG 1.2.2 Captions (A), 1.2.3 Audio Descriptions and Media Alternatives (A), and 1.2.5 Audio Descriptions (AA).
There are decorative images on the website that are audibly announced to users with screen readers. This can make it more difficult for these users to navigate through the page. For example, on the homepage, the main banner image is decorative but it is audibly announced as ‘Superstars club’. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 non-text content (A).
Some links are hidden for users with screen readers on the website. This means that these users will not get the same content as other users. This can lead to users with screen readers missing some of the context of the page. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 name, role, value (A).
There are some links that keyboard-only users cannot access. This means that users that navigate using a keyboard will not be able to access or select the link. For example, on the page that lists all funding over £20,001, keyboard-only users will not be able to select the link out to the Rosemount Lifelong Learning project overview. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.1.1 keyboard (A).
On some pages, there are links without text. For example, on the Bringing People Together programme page (before the link ‘What we’re hoping to fund’), there is a link that does not contain link text. This could be confusing for users with screen readers. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.4 link purpose (A).
On the pages with information about the funding programmes, there are four tabs which contain further detail about the programmes. These tabs are ‘How to apply’, ‘Who can and cannot apply’, ‘What we’re hoping to fund’ and ‘What you can spend the money on’. These tabs are interactive but have not been added to the page using the correct code. This means users with screen readers will find it difficult to understand the structure of the page. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.1 parsing (A).
On the login screen, there’s an eye-shaped interactive icon which allows you to show or hide the password you’ve just entered. Screen readers will describe this icon as ‘button’. This is not descriptive so it will be disorientating for these users. This icon also disappears when users turn off the CSS or use their own stylesheets. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 info and relationships and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
On some pages of the website, the colours are in low contrast. This can make it difficult for people with low vision to use some pages. For example, on the login screen there is an eye-shaped interactive icon which allows you to show or hide the password you’ve just entered. When this is selected, keyboard-only users will find it difficult to see the blue border colour against the white background. This means some users may find this page difficult to navigate through. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (AA) 1.4.11 non-text contrast (AA).
On the page that helps you reset your password, there is a button that reads ‘Reset password’. When you select that button, a message appears on screen that reads: ‘We’ll send you a link to reset your password if you’ve entered an email address that’s registered with us’. This message is not read out for users with screen readers. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.3 status messages (AA).

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and application forms published as Word documents. Over time we’ll fix these essential documents or replace them with accessible HTML web pages.

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Third party content

Some of our services include third party content which we have no control over.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to manage these kinds of content, but if you have a problem with any of the content hosted on this website, contact us and we’ll try and help.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Where possible, we try to test our services with a representative range of users, including disabled people.

We also test components to ensure they work with a range of browsers, devices and assistive technologies. This includes screen magnifiers, screen readers and speech recognition tools.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 29 December 2020. It was last reviewed on 13 November 2023.

This website was last tested on 16 December 2020. To help us do this, we commissioned the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) to carry out WCAG 2.1 AA level technical compliance audit, that included extensive testing by users with a wide range of disabilities.