Accessibility Statement

UK Law Reference is committed to making legal information accessible to everyone. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standard — the standard adopted by the Equality Act 2010 (Information and Communications Standard) and the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. We are a private editorial site rather than a public body, but we hold ourselves to the same threshold.

This statement covers the entire uklawreference.com website. It was last reviewed on the date above using a combination of automated tooling (axe-core, Lighthouse, Pa11y) and keyboard-only spot checks.

Compliance status

We believe the site is substantially compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA, with the known exceptions listed below. We do not yet meet WCAG 2.2 AA fully — particularly the new 2.5.7 "Dragging Movements" and 2.5.8 "Target Size (Minimum)" criteria across all interactive components. These are tracked in our backlog.

Accessibility features

• Semantic HTML with proper heading hierarchy, landmark regions, and meaningful link text on every page.
• Keyboard navigation works throughout — no mouse-only interactions. Focus rings are visible. Skip links open up on first Tab.
• Dark mode with sufficient contrast in both schemes.
• Responsive design from 320 px to 1920 px without horizontal scrolling.
• Text resizing up to 200% without loss of content or function.
• Alternative text for informative images; decorative images are marked aria-hidden.
• Colour contrast ≥ 4.5:1 for body text and ≥ 3:1 for large text and UI components.
• 11 languages with proper lang attributes and hreflang alternates.
• ARIA live regions on safety callouts and form validation messages.
• Reduced-motion support via prefers-reduced-motion media query.

Known limitations

• Some older detail pages may have inconsistent heading hierarchy (we are working through these on a per-content-type basis).
• Embedded PDF documents from external sources (e.g. legislation.gov.uk) are outside our control and may not be fully accessible.
• A small number of interactive tool components do not yet meet WCAG 2.2's 2.5.8 minimum target-size criterion on touch devices.
• Comparison tables on mobile rely on horizontal scrolling for the widest columns; we are evaluating a card-flow alternative.

Review cadence

We review accessibility at least twice a year (May and November) and after any major template or design change. The most recent review covered the homepage, all 21 content-type detail templates, the glossary, search, and the header navigation.

Reporting a barrier

If you encounter an accessibility barrier — anything from a missing label to content you cannot reach with a screen reader — please email accessibility@uklawreference.co.uk. We aim to respond within 5 working days and to fix or document the issue within 21 working days. Please include the URL of the page, what you were trying to do, and what assistive technology you were using.

If you are not satisfied with our response

You can contact the Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS) for advice on your rights under the Equality Act 2010. Disabled users have rights to reasonable adjustments under section 20 of the Act.

Standards we follow

• WCAG 2.1 Level AA — substantially compliant.
• Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 — followed voluntarily.
• UK Government Service Manual accessibility guidance — followed where applicable.