Change website language Cymraeg English

Welsh Language Commissioner's Accessibility Statement

The Welsh Language Commissioner is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to the Welsh Language Commissioner and  Comisiynydd y Gymraeg websites. Both sites are run by the Welsh Language Commissioner (The Commissioner).

The Commissioner wants everyone to be able to access the websites. For example, this means that you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrasts, and fonts
  • zoom the text over 150% without the text disappearing 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 have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Compliance status

These websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 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
  • disproportionate burden

Non-compliance with accessibility regulations

The Commissioner knows that the following areas of the websites are not fully accessible:

We know about these areas where the websites do not meet accessibility standards and we have a plan to address each of them:

  • The Commissioner regularly checks for any recent broken links on the web pages and repairs them as soon as they are identified.
  • Broken links in documents published before September 2018 will not be fixed unless they are essential for users to access a service.
  • When new content is published, the Commissioner will ensure that the links meet accessibility standards. The Commissioner has prioritised the review and resolution of accessibility issues on the pages with the highest number of users for the most essential services.

Older documents

The Commissioner does not intend to fix the following, as they are exempt from the regulations:

Most older PDFs, Excel files and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured in a way that is accessible to a screen reader. The accessibility regulations do not require the repair of PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 unless they are essential to service delivery.

The Commissioner therefore does not intend to resolve the following information if it was published before 23 September 2018:

  • Missing alt attributes
  • Tables that are not accessible documents, such as PDFs, Excel and Word files that do not meet accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

The Commissioner's websites contain hundreds of PDF documents. Some of them may be exempt from the regulations as explained above although not all. It would take a considerable amount of time and money to fully review and address these, so the Commissioner has assessed that this would be a disproportionate burden at this stage.

Disproportionate burden assessment for the Welsh Language Commissioner

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

The Commissioner is actively seeking to improve the accessibility of the websites.

These are some of the areas we are focusing on to make the websites more accessible:

  • Reviewing the colour contrast of text to make sure it exceeds.
  • Reviewing the main web pages to ensure that they include alt attributes.
  • Reviewing link text to ensure their purpose is clear 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
  • Reviewing the heading hierarchy to ensure headings are used appropriately and sequentially.
  • Reviewing the forms to ensure that input and label relationship is present and appropriate.
  • Reviewing our code to ensure that we are using the latest standards of web technology.

The list of things that have been done to make the websites more accessible will be updated as the work is completed. We are currently working to eliminate these issues with a view to resolving them by the end of September 2024.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared in July 2021. It was last reviewed in January 2024.

This website was last tested on 13 October 2023. The test was carried out by the Government Digital Service. The test was not a full audit as it only covered a subset of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and pages. The issues raised were resolved by January 2024. You can read the full accessibility test report. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further full audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard in January 2024.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information about the websites in a different format, such as an accessible PDF, large print, easy-to-read version, audio recording or braille, please let us know by:

The Commissioner will consider your request and contact you within five working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with the Commissioner's websites

The Commissioner is seeking to improve the accessibility of the websites. If you encounter problems that are not listed on the page or you do not think that something meets accessibility requirements, please email the Director of Governance and Corporate Services at post@cyg-wlc.wales.

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).