Accessibility statement for Start for Life

This accessibility statement applies to the Start for Life website and the Information Service for Parents sign up form. This website is run by NHS Digital on behalf of the Department of Health & Social Care. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means you should be able to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader.

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 that some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• The trending topics sections on the Pregnancy, Baby, and Toddler pages may be hard to navigate for people using a screen reader or a keyboard only
• The videos do not have audio descriptions and some of the on-screen captions may be hard to read

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please email Start4Life@phe.gov.uk

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, contact Start4Life@phe.gov.uk

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)

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

For more information about getting in touch please visit our contact us page.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

NHS Digital 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 2.1 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

• There are links on the Pregnancy, Baby, and Toddler pages which use 'find out more' as the link text and may confuse people using screen readers to navigate the page. This fails the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard (reference 2.4.4 Link Purpose)
• There are links on the Pregnancy, Baby, and Toddler pages which use expandable links to reveal more content. These may confuse people using screen readers and fails the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard (reference 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value)

Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The videos on the site do not meet accessibility standards because they do not have captions or audio description. Where subtitles exist on Start for Life video content, subtitles may be hard for users to read as the text is light and especially hard to see when not against a dark background. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix videos published before 23 September 2020.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We have a plan in place to fix all the issues listed above by 1st April 2023 when we aim to be fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on September 3, 2020. It was last reviewed on February 26, 2021.

The website was last tested in May 2020.

The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre and the report is available on request.