This website is run by the British Tourist Authority t/a VisitBritain. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
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.
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
· generated PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
· some images and call to action buttons may not have a descriptive textual alternative
Please contact us on the details below should you require any content appearing on this website in a more accessible format, for example, a PDF.
More accessible formats may include: large print; easy read; audio recording and; braille.:
We’ll consider your request and get back to you within ten days.
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 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’). Should you not be happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
VisitBritain is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Some images do not have a text alternative, so users with a screen reader are currently unable to access this information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by 23rd September 2020.
Some text does not have sufficient colour contrast, so users with low vision may have difficulties separating foreground from background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). We plan to change the colour contrast by 23rd September 2020.
Some of our hyperlinks are missing a meaningful description, so users with a screen reader may face challenges in understanding the meaning of content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose. We plan to add descriptive text by 23rd September 2020.
Some of the automatically generated PDF documents do not meet all accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured to be accessible for a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). We plan to fix this or replace them with accessible HTML equivalents by 23rd September 2020.
When we publish any new textual or visual content, form, filtering element or document, we will ensure accessibility standards are met or in the event we intend to keep it on our website after 23rd September 2020, we will ensure the standards are met by this date.
Meeting some accessibility requirements by 23rd September 2020 currently present a disproportionate burden for our organisation. We are working on resolving all of the non-compliances and replacing our websites with fully accessible versions over a period of time. We will address some existing issues between now and March 2021. New websites will begin to replace existing ones from late 2021.
This statement will be updated regularly with timings of fixes. If you require any material on the website in an accessible format, please contact accessibility@visitbritain.org
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured to be accessible for a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services and forms published as Word documents. By 23 rd September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents which were published prior to 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Live video
Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
How we tested this website
We have tested this website by using an accessibility testing tool - Monsido.
We tested our main website platform, available at https://www.britagent.com
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We have implemented training for relevant staff, developed documentation and checklists, and we have carried out work to implement multiple fixes in 2020. We will be developing a plan to implement other priority fixes between October 2020 and March 2021. Timings will be updated on this page.
This statement was prepared on 23rd September 2019. It was last updated on 8th September 2020.