Accessibility of this Website

As a responsible organisation that respects and values the contributions of all members of society, we want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, and our other websites, and access the information or services we provide.

For example, that means you should be able to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or accessibility device settings
• Zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• Navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).

CTSI Employees - and CTSI's various sub-contractors, agencies and contributors - have made every possible effort to make the website text as simple as possible to understand. Unfortunately, in certain circumstances - based on the nature of the legal, technical or educational content we cover – this has not always been possible. However, we would welcome any feedback, suggestions or advice you might have that would help us make the information easier to comprehend and more accessible to the various audiences we serve.

While we embark on our programme of Accessibility Improvements and Remediation, AbilityNet is a UK-based organisation that offers best-practice advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability or impairment: AbilityNet.

Scope of this Assessment

The information on this page applies to the following website, operated by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute: https://www.tradingstandards.uk. Please note, any other sub-domains of this website (i.e. that don't start with www), especially those that use separate Content Management Systems, will have their own separate Accessibility Statements, for which links will be provided at the bottom of this page).

Part One : Summary of Accessibility Issues

CTSI is aware that some parts of this website are not fully accessible and, as a responsible organisation, we are fully committed to tackling any issues that prevent or hinder anyone - members, learners, employees, or the general public - from accessing the information or services we provide as soon as possible. 

Examples of where this website is NOT fully Accessible

• Contrast Issues: There are significant color contrast problems, with text and interface elements often lacking sufficient differentiation from their backgrounds, making content difficult to read for users with visual impairments.
• Image Alt Tags: Images across the site are missing descriptive alternative text, leaving users who rely on screen readers without essential context.
• Hyperlinks: Links also pose challenges, as some are indistinguishable from regular text, relying solely on color for identification, while others lack descriptive text, making their purpose unclear to assistive technologies.
• Forms: Form elements are inadequately labeled, which can confuse users navigating with screen readers or other assistive tools, as these labels are crucial for understanding the functionality of input fields.
• Header Hierarchy: The heading structure on many pages is inconsistent and does not follow a logical hierarchy, impairing navigation for users who rely on structured content flow.
• Content Landmarks: The site lacks proper landmark regions and ARIA roles, which are vital for assistive technologies to provide efficient navigation and content grouping.
• HTML Titles and Tags: Certain HTML documents are missing descriptive titles, and embedded iframes lack accessible names, further complicating usability for those relying on assistive technologies.

Feedback and Contact Information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [provide both details of how to report these issues to your organisation, and contact details for the unit or person responsible for dealing with these reports].

If you need information on this website in a different format, like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille: [email protected]  We’ll consider your request and aim to contact you, to advise on how we can help, within 28 days. If you cannot view any information on our Contact Us page, please Request Assistance.

Enforcement Procedures

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, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). Or, in Northern Ireland, you can complain to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).

Part Two : Full Accessibility Statement

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute – the operators of this website – are fully committed to making all of its websites accessible, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and, where possible, the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. While CTSI is an independent, not-for-profit membership body and campaigning organisation, it is not a Public Sector body, under the terms of the regulations, we do receive some public funds which contribute to the operation of some of our services).

Note on Our Current Limitations

The accessibility and compliance information included in this initial Accessibility Statement is based on automated audits of a small sample of pages on this website.

This is a stopgap solution and the information included in this section will be revised based on a full (and/or sample) Manual Audit, which will be conducted by an independent third-party. This later Manual Audit will contribute to our wider Website Redevelopment Plan, which will include a more detailed technical and content development roadmap, which will be published in due course.

As an organisation, CTSI is fully committed to this process and to full transparency throughout. However, as a small, non-profit membership organisation, any improvements we identify will be prioritised, based on balancing both urgency and our ability to complete that work in-house and/or with our external agencies (where costs will be incurred). Therefore, this remediation work will be executed progressively, over a period of time, as we believe that expediting it would place a disproportionate burden on both the organisation and our staff.

Current Compliance Status

The website has been sample tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard. This testing has determined that, currently, it is NOT COMPLIANT with those standards.

Non-Accessible Content

The following content (listed below) is Non-Accessible for the following reasons:

• Insufficient Color Contrast
• Missing Alternative Text for Images
• Undescriptive or Ambiguous Links
• Improper or Missing Form Labels
• Disorganized Heading Structure
• Absence of ARIA Roles and Landmarks
• Non-Descriptive Page Titles
• Unlabeled or Misconfigured Iframes

Current Non-Compliance Issues

There are many areas where this website is NOT COMPLIANT with current UK Accessibility Regulations. The main Non-Compliance issues encountered on this website are (please note, this is a non-exhaustive list):

• Color Contrast Issues: Text and interactive elements fail to meet minimum contrast ratio requirements, impacting users with low vision or color blindness.
• Missing or Inadequate Alternative Text: Images do not include meaningful alternative text, making them inaccessible to users relying on screen readers.
• Improper Link Text: Links are labeled ambiguously or lack descriptive context, making navigation unclear for assistive technology users.
• Inaccessible Forms: Form elements are missing appropriate labels or associations, which hinders usability for users with disabilities.
• Disordered or Missing Headings: The heading structure is not logical or hierarchical, creating navigation challenges for screen reader users.
• Unlabeled Iframes: Embedded content via iframes lacks proper labels or accessible names, making it unusable for assistive technologies.
• Non-Descriptive Page Titles: Page titles do not adequately describe the content or purpose of the pages, causing difficulties in orientation.
• Absence of ARIA Roles and Landmarks: Key ARIA roles or landmarks are missing, reducing navigational ease for screen reader users.
• Keyboard Navigation Issues: Some interactive elements are not keyboard-accessible, preventing users who rely on keyboard-only navigation from accessing all content.
• Interactive Element Focus States: Interactive elements lack visible focus indicators, making it difficult for keyboard users to track navigation.
• Auto-Playing Media Without Controls: Media elements autoplay without user controls to pause, stop, or adjust volume, which can disrupt users with sensory impairments.
• Dynamic Content Not Announced: Updates to dynamic content (e.g., modal dialogs, notifications) are not announced to screen readers, leaving users unaware of changes.

Statutory Exclusions

Disproportionate Burden

Our initial remediation assessment has determined that the cost of fixing some of the issues with navigation and accessing information (summarised above and included in the accompanying Automated Sample Audit Reports) immediately would place a disproportionate burden on CTSI, as defined within the latest and most relevant Accessibility Regulations. However, we will endeavour to fix these more complex issues within a realistic timeframe (and certainly when the third-party contract for providing our technical and website services is renewed).

Content Outside the Scope of current Accessibility Regulations

For a variety of reasons, certain types of content sits outside the scope of the current UK Accessibility Regulations, while we understand this is the case and will, nevertheless aim to improve its accessibility, this has not been prioritised. This content includes (but is not restricted to):

• 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. While we will endeavour to ensure that all PDFs or other documents published after that date are accessible, any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
• Live Video/Webinars: We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Accessibility Planning

What are we doing to improve Accessibility?

Our Accessibility Roadmap - part of our wider Website Redevelopment Plan - is intended to show how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website (and across the other websites operated by CTSI). It will include:

• Technical Development: This is where we will utilise technology to remove as many barriers to accessibility as possible.
• Content Development: This is where we will manually assess and update existing content, wherever necessary.
• Staff Training: This is where we will provide sufficient guidelines and training for our employees and contributors to ensure that all future content added to this website is accessible.

Where can you view our Accessibility Roadmap?

Once the Accessibility Roadmap for this website has been completed and approved, we will publish it here:

[ Our Accessibility Roadmap - tbc ]

Part Three : Background and Testing Information

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

RELEVANT DATES: This statement was prepared on 30 April 2025. It was last reviewed on 15 May 2025. These websites were last tested against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard on 18 March 2025.

The initial tests were carried out by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute’s digital team using automated tools under the direction of the Head of Marketing and Digital, Spencer Dyment-Shone, who selected the sample of key/most viewed pages. Further auditing of the website will be carried out to the WCAG 2.2 Level AA standard.

Accessibility Test Reports

At this stage in our Accessibility Programme, we have only produced automated reports for a sample number of key pages across this website. These will be replaced with more detailed Manual Audit reports once these are available. In the meantime, you can consult the automated Accessibility Test Reports for the following sample of pages here:

Automated Accessibility Reports for www.tradingstandards.uk:

NOTE: All Page and Report links open in a new tab/window.