Accessibility Statement - News

Scope

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

The British Library operates a number of websites, subsites, and online services (“Sites”).

This accessibility statement supplements our main Accessibility Statement, and applies to the following Site:

How accessible this website is

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

  • Some on-page Aria references are broken
  • Text and links do not have sufficient contrast against background
  • Browser zoom functionality is disabled
  • Focus is not clearly visible on article navigation
  • Multiple form labels are associated with the same input field
  • Some form labels are missing
  • Some form labels are orphaned
  • Video content published before 23 September 2020 is not required to be audio transcribed or subtitled.
     

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

  • Pre-recorded time-based media published before 23rd September 2020 is exempt from the Regulations under Reg 3(2)(b). This content might fail any of the WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criteria related to the provision of a transcript, subtitles, or audio description.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Some Aria references are broken, meaning that users of assistive technologies may not be able to navigate the content or adapt it to their needs. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 

  • The colour of both text and links does not provide sufficient contrast against the background colour, meaning that users with moderate visual impairment who do not use assistive technologies may not be able to discern the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast Minimum).

  • Broswer zoom functionality is disabled, meaning that users with moderate visual impairment who do not use assistive technologies may not be able to discern the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize Text). 

  • Focus is not clearly visible on the navigation elements to and within news articles, meaning that users of assistive technologies or with visual impairments may find them difficult to navigate. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).

  • The site's internal search functionality has multiple form labels associated with a single input field, meaning that users of assistive technologies or with cognitive impairments may not be able to discern the functionality of the fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).

  • Some form labels are missing, meaning that users of assistive technologies or with cognitive impairments may not be able to discern the functionality of the fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).

  • Some pages have orphaned form labels, meaning that users of assistive technologies may not be presented with content in a logical order, or may be led to expect content that is not present. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions). 

We plan to resolve these issues by replacing the site in its entirety by December 2026.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 26 April 2021. An audit of the site was carried out by the Central Digital & Data Office using Axe.