Accessibility Statement for Democracy Hub

This accessibility statement applies to the public-facing Democracy Hub website. It does not cover the admin portal or any other content.

This website is run by the Greater London Authority. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen and without content being truncated or overlapping
  • 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 (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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 some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • In the Future updates component, error messages are provided in plain text before the start of the form. This may make them difficult to discover for screen reader software users. The error messages can be found by using keyboard shortcuts to jump to the previous heading and then reading normally.
  • On the activity map, some information is not accessible for screen reader software users. Until an accessible alternative is provided for content in the map, screen reader software users are advised to avoid the activity map.
  • On the activity map, some controls are not properly identified or states conveyed, make them difficult to understand for screen reader software users. Until an accessible alternative is provided for content in the map, screen reader software users are advised to avoid the activity map.
  • The social media links in the footer have no link text and no label to identify their purpose which makes them difficult to understand for screen reader software users.
  • External links are identified as "(link is external)" without idenitfying the destination page which makes them difficult to understand for screen reader software users.
  • On the Future updates form, the input elements do not have the correct autocomplete values which may make it hard for some users people with certain cognitive disabilities.
  • On the Resources page, some components have a focus indicator that does not have sufficient contrast with the background which may present difficulties for low vision users.
  • On the activity map, colour is used to convey information text on the map does not always have sufficient colour contrast, which may present difficulties for low vision users.

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:

If you cannot view the map on our contact us page, please call or email us for directions.

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, please contact the GLA Democratic Participation Team by emailing democracy@london.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

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact City Hall.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Greater London Authority 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • The activity map relies on colour alone to identify individual map markers. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (use of colour). We plan to address issues with the map by September 2025.
  • The social media links in the footer have no link text and no label to identify their purpose. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)). We plan to address this issue by September 2025.
  • External links are identified as "(link is external)" without idenitfying the destination page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). We plan to address this issue by September 2025.
  • On the Future updates form, the input elements do not have the correct autocomplete values. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.5 (identify input purpose). We plan to address this issue by September 2025.
  • On the Resources page, some components have a focus indicator that does not have sufficient contrast with the background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). We plan to address this issue by September 2025.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

  • The text on maps does not always have sufficient colour contrast. This is third party content, which is not under our control (neither funded, nor developed by us) and so falls under the exemptions of the accessibility regulations - Application, 4. (2)(e).
  • Google Translate is a free third-party widget that is used to provide GLA content in different languages. The tool uses deprecated language values for Hebrew and Japanese. This may impact on the accuracy of the translation, or how screen reader software language plugins work with the translated content.
  • Google Translate is a third-party widget provided by Google, which is not under our control (neither funded, nor developed by us) and so falls under the exemptions of the accessibility regulations - Application, 4. (2)(e).
  • The video player is a third-party widget provided by youTube, which is not under our control (neither funded, nor developed by us) and so falls under the exemptions of the accessibility regulations - Application, 4. (2)(e).

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and other documents may be essential to providing our services.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15 March 2025. It was last reviewed on 17 March 2025.

This website was last tested on 14 March 2025. The test was carried out by Test Partners Ltd

We followed GOV.UK guidance on deciding how to check the Democracy Now website as follows:

  1. We used an automated website mapping tool to identify all the pages and documents on the website.
  2. We removed all the PDFs and other documents from the list. It has not yet been decided if they will be fixed immediately, fixed on demand or if either the “legacy office documents” or “disproportionate burden” exemptions will be used.
  3. We grouped the remaining pages according to type.
  4. We manually assessed a number of pages from each group to determine the level of consistency within the group and the type of content on those pages.
  5. We manually assessed all the “unique” pages such as the home page to determine the type of content on those pages.
  6. We identified a minimum representative subset of pages that contain examples of the most common layouts, components and features, including:
    1. The header and footer.
    2. Important “unique pages”.
    3. Pages with text content and data tables.
    4. Pages with informational images, images of text and video content.
    5. Interactive elements such as forms, tabbed interfaces, carousels, hide / reveal functionality and content filtering.
    6. We conducted a manual WCAG audit on the representative subset of pages.
  7. We conducted one round of fixing and retesting, such that most WCAG non-conformances have been fixed.
  8. Further fixing and retesting is in progress.