Accessibility Statement

The standard this site is built to

The target is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 at level AA. That is the standard commonly used as the benchmark for public-facing websites in the UK, and it is the standard the site was designed, built and written against.

In practical terms it means that content should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust: readable at a decent contrast, usable with a keyboard alone, understandable when read aloud by a screen reader, and structured so that assistive technology can make sense of it.

Conformance status

The site is built to WCAG 2.1 level AA and tested against it during the build. A full independent accessibility audit has not yet been carried out, so no claim of full conformance is made here.

This site is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA. “Partially conformant” is the standard wording for a site built and tested against the standard but not yet audited by an independent third party. Every template was checked during the build, both automatically and by hand, and no outstanding level A or AA failure is known at the date below. The date of the last review is 26 August 2026. Stating anything firmer without an independent audit would be a claim rather than a fact, and on this page accuracy matters more than impression.

What has been built into the site

The following are part of how the site is built rather than additions to it. Each was checked during development, and each is listed so you know what to expect and what to hold the site to.

• A skip link. The first thing a keyboard reaches on every page is a link that jumps straight past the navigation to the main content.
• Semantic structure. Each page has one main heading followed by a logical order of sub-headings, with header, navigation, main and footer marked up as landmarks so a screen reader can move between them.
• Keyboard operation. Every link, button, menu and form control can be reached and operated with a keyboard alone, in an order that follows the visible layout, with a clearly visible focus outline on the element that has focus.
• Text alternatives. Images that carry information have alternative text describing what they show. Images that are decorative are marked so that a screen reader passes over them rather than announcing a filename.
• Labelled forms. Every field on the enquiry form has a visible label tied to it in the markup, with autocomplete set where it applies, so a field can be identified whether it is read aloud or filled automatically.
• Colour and contrast. Text and interface colours were chosen against the AA contrast thresholds, and colour is never the only way information is conveyed.
• Reduced motion. Animation on the site respects the operating system setting for reduced motion. If you have that setting switched on, movement is switched off rather than merely shortened.
• Resizable text. Text can be enlarged in the browser to 200 per cent without content being lost or overlapping, and the layout reflows on a narrow screen rather than forcing sideways scrolling.
• Language. The page language is declared in the markup so a screen reader pronounces the content correctly.

Technical content, tables and diagrams

Much of this site is technical writing about roofs, and some of it is set out in tables comparing coverings, pitches and details. Those tables use proper row and column headers so that a screen reader announces which column a figure belongs to rather than reading a grid of loose numbers.

Measurements are written out in the text as well as shown in any illustration, so no dimension, pitch or lap depends on being able to see a drawing. Where a page uses an interactive tool to work through sizes or options, the same information is available as ordinary text on the page or on a linked page.

Areas under review

The following are known to need attention or confirmation before any conformance claim is made. They are listed openly because a statement that lists nothing is usually a statement nobody has checked.

• The interactive map used on the coverage pages relies on a third-party mapping component, and its keyboard and screen reader behaviour is under review. The same coverage information is set out in writing on the areas pages, which need no map to use.
• Any content supplied by a third party and embedded in a page, including an enquiry form supplied by an external system once it is installed, is outside the direct control of this site’s markup, and its accessibility is governed by that supplier rather than by this site. Where such an embed cannot be used, the same enquiry can be made by phone or email, and those routes are given on every page.
• Contrast has been checked against the AA thresholds during design and is due to be re-checked with automated tooling across every template.
• Testing with screen readers has so far been limited to development checks rather than a full assistive-technology audit. Checks during the build covered keyboard-only navigation, visible focus, heading order, form labelling, colour contrast in both static and computed form, and layout at 200 per cent text size.

How this site has been tested

During the build, pages were checked for heading order and landmark structure, for keyboard operation and visible focus, for alternative text on images, for form labelling, and for behaviour at reduced motion and at enlarged text sizes.

Automated testing was run across all 351 pages of the site before handover. A static audit against the WCAG 2.1 A and AA success criteria returned no violations. A separate check against the rendered pages, covering a sample of every page type, tested colour contrast on computed styles rather than on the stylesheet alone, visible focus on each distinct control type, text resized to 200 per cent, and the reduced motion preference being honoured. Keyboard testing confirmed that focus order follows the visual order, that the skip link is the first stop and reaches the main landmark, and that focus can always leave the page. All of these passed.

Automated testing is not the same as an audit. It finds the failures a machine can see, and it cannot judge whether alternative text is meaningful, whether a reading order makes sense to a person, or whether a page works with a screen reader in practice. An independent audit against the full WCAG 2.1 AA criteria, including testing with assistive technology, has not been carried out at the time of writing. Should one be commissioned, the date, the organisation that carried it out and the method used will be recorded here and this section rewritten with the findings.

Reporting an accessibility problem

If you find something on this site that is hard to use, email info@severnskylightsgloucester.co.uk. Put accessibility in the subject line so it is picked up quickly.

It helps to include the address of the page, what you were trying to do, what happened instead, and what you were using at the time: the browser, the device and any assistive technology such as a screen reader, magnifier or voice control. None of that is essential, and a short message describing the problem is enough to start with.

If you need information from this site in another format, ask by email and say which format suits you. Content on this site is written as ordinary web pages, so it can generally be supplied as plain text or in a larger print size on request. We aim to respond to such a request within three working days.

What happens when you report a problem

Every report is acknowledged in writing. The page is checked against the description you give, and you are told what was found and what will be done about it.

Where something can be corrected quickly, it is corrected and you are told when the change is live. Where it needs a change to a template or to a third-party component and will take longer, you are given the reason and an indication of timing, and where possible an alternative way to get at the information in the meantime. We aim to give an initial response within three working days.

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology

The site is built with standard HTML, CSS and a small amount of JavaScript, and it is intended to work with current versions of the common browsers on desktop and mobile, and with the screen readers, magnifiers and voice control software built into or commonly used with those platforms.

Content is written so that the page still makes sense with JavaScript unavailable. The navigation, the page text, the tables and the links all work without it, and the interactive tools are an addition to the written content rather than the only route to it.

Technical specification

Accessibility on this site relies on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and ARIA attributes where a native HTML element cannot express the role on its own. Native elements are used in preference to ARIA wherever the native element does the job, because a real button behaves correctly for everybody without any additional markup.

Preparation and review of this statement

This statement was prepared during the build of the site on 26 August 2026 and last reviewed on 26 August 2026. It is reviewed whenever the site changes materially and at least once a year.

The markers on this page are deliberate. An accessibility statement that overstates what has been tested is worse than one that admits the gap, both for the reader relying on it and for the business standing behind it, so every value that has not been established is shown as a marker until the operator settles it.