Accessibility statement for the Bank of England website

Our mission is to serve the people of the UK. So how we communicate is important. We want as many people as possible to be able to use our 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
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

In March 2022, we updated the ‘look and feel’ of our content. That includes things like our logo, and the colours and typography we use. This helps make our website and communications more accessible and inclusive. 

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand and Plain Language Commission has awarded our website a gold Clear English Standard. This accreditation recognises the work we are doing to improve the way we communicate by using plain English.

We will keep on working to improve the way we communicate because this will help us to carry out our mission.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• some pages and document attachments are not clearly written
• some pages lack a logical heading structure
• some tables lack row headers
• some content has poor colour contrast
• some images lack good alternative text
• some error messages in forms are not announced by assistive technology
• many documents are in PDF and other formats and are not fully accessible
• some video content does not have captions, transcriptions or audio descriptions
• some dynamic charts are not accessible to assistive technology
• some pages have a generic link text

We also know some parts of the Database are not fully accessible because:

• some pages lack a logical heading structure
• some content has poor colour contrast
• some page titles do not clearly describe the purpose of the page

Reasonable adjustments 

If you have a physical or mental impairment that impacts how you access our information and services, please get in touch with us and we'll do our best to meet any reasonable adjustments required. If you’d like to discuss in more detail, please contact us:

• enquiries@bankofengland.co.uk
• 020 3461 4878 (Monday to Friday: 10am to 12noon)
• write to us at Engagement and Enquiries, Bank of England, Threadneedle St, London, EC2R 8AH
• Twitter @bankofengland and Facebook @bankofengland.co.uk

Alternative report formats

We provide free large-print, braille and audio versions of our Monetary Policy Report, Financial Stability Report and Annual Report. If you need any other information on this website in a different format, please contact us:

• Phone: 020 3461 4878 (Monday to Friday: 10am to 12noon)
• Fax: 020 3461 4771
• Email: enquiries@bankofengland.co.uk

Accessibility at our building

For more information about accessibility at our building, see our Contact us page.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve our website's accessibility. We know it’s important to keep improving so if you read anything that's unclear on our website or you have any trouble using it, please let us know by emailing us at webmaster@bankofengland.co.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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Bank of England 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 complies only partly with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, for the reasons listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Adjacent image and text links for the same resource

Several text links and images go to the same resource. This can be confusing and frustrating for screen reader users having to access each link for the same resource. This issue falls under the 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

Colour alone used to convey information, low text colour and low graphics contrast

Colour alone is used to convey information on charts and graphs. Non-sighted users and users with certain visual impairments will not be able to perceive the information. The underlying data is provided wherever possible. This issue falls under the 1.3.1 (A), 1.4.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

There are several instances in charts and graphs where there is not enough contrast between foreground text and background colours, they fall below the minimum ratio (3:1). User interface graphic components with low contrast are more difficult to read, identify and interact with for users with visual impairments. This issue falls under the 1.4.3 (AA), 1.4.11 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Footnotes inaccessible to assistive technology

In several historical pages with charts, the relationship between the text/symbol and the footnote is not perceivable to assistive technology. This falls under the 1.3.1 (A), 4.1.2 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Generic link name

In several historical pages, there are instances where generic link text was used. These are not descriptive and do not provide the user with clear information about where the link will take them. This issue falls under the 2.4.4 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Some complex images lack alternative text. These include complex charts and graphs. Screen-reader users will not be able to understand the content, but the underlying data is provided wherever possible.

In other instances, screen reader users may find the alternative text long or redundant, making it time consuming to read and understand. 

This issue falls under the 1.1.1 (A), 1.4.5 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).  

Illogical heading structure

Some pages across the site do not follow a logical order with missing heading levels. Screen reader users use the heading structure to navigate and understand the page content.  With an illogical heading structure, they will find this more difficult. This issue falls under the, 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Maths equations not correctly conveyed to assistive technology

In some instances, maths equations lack the correct mark-up so their meaning is not correctly conveyed to assistive technology. Screen-reader users may therefore have difficulty understanding the equations. This issue falls under the 1.3.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Links to non-HTML documents missing file type and file size information

Across the website, some links lack the file-type or file-size information. This issue falls under the 2.4.4 (A).

PDFs and non-HTML documents

Many documents may not be suitable for users of assistive technology in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure. This issue falls under the 1.1.1 (A), 1.4.5 (A), 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.6 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

We provide a HTML version of our most popular publications and we are striving to make any new PDFs and Word documents we publish meet accessibility standards, but this may not always be possible. If you require an accessible version of any of the documents on our website, please let us know by emailing us at webmaster@bankofengland.co.uk. 

Tables with incorrect markup

Some tables lack row headers. Screen reader users can find this hard to navigate. This issue falls under the, 1.3.1 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Videos

Transcripts and auto-captions are provided for most videos on the website. However, not all videos have transcripts, captions or audio descriptions. We are reviewing these and resolving them based on order of priority. There are no transcripts, captions or audio descriptions for press-conference feeds. Alternative text or reasonable adjustments for videos can be provided upon request. This issue falls under the 1.1.1(A), 1.2.1 (A), 1.2.2 (A), 1.2.5 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s). 

Visually hidden element receives screen reader focus

There is an instance where an element that is visually hidden receives screen reader focus. Sighted users using a screen reader may be disorientated when accessing the page because they cannot follow the screen reader cursor on elements that are hidden. This issue falls under the 2.4.3 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

We are actively working to address these issues as part of an ongoing plan to improve the accessibility of this website. 

Disproportionate burden: the Database

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues below with the Database. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Future work is planned to rebuild the Database and complying with the regulations will be included.

• Chart slider inaccessible by keyboard and screen reader
• Elements that visually convey heading meaning do not match semantic heading markup
• Illogical heading structure
• Missing form label but with a title
• Non-descriptive page titles
• Search filter unclear and not exposed to screen reader users
• Low/missing keyboard focus

Content that’s outside the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

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. 

Videos

We do not plan to add live captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix videos published before 23 September 2020. We are actively working to add auto-captions and transcripts to the most popular older videos.

Third-party content and functionality

In some pages, we use 3rd party platforms to host and display our content, the functionality of these platforms does not always meet the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix third-party content that is neither funded, developed or under the control of the public sector body.

Tableau

There is embedded third-party Tableau content that consists of numerous focusable elements. These are not reachable and operable via the keyboard. Keyboard and screen-reader users will not be able to use them. This issue falls under many WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

Google Arts & Culture

There are embedded third-party Google Arts & Culture modal dialogs that are not announced to assistive technologies. Keyboard users may find it difficult to navigate and access the content within the modal dialogs. This issue falls under the 2.1.1 (A), 2.4.3 (A). 4.1.3 (AA) violation(s).

Some image captions within the embedded Google Arts & Culture slides do not have enough contrast between foreground text and background colours. This issue falls under the 1.4.3 (AA) violation(s).

Mailchimp and Cludo forms

The error message for the input field in the 'search' page and in the 'subscribe to emails' form does not provide enough information to help users correct the error(s). We have communicated this issue to our 3rd party supplier who may be able to fix it at a future date. This issue falls under the 3.3.1 (A), 3.3.3 (AA) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

Vimeo and YouTube 

There are instances where keyboard focus does not follow a logical order. Some of the videos on the page receive focus multiple times, causing the navigation to loop. This issue falls under the 1.3.2 (A), 2.4.3 (A), 2.4.3 (A), 2.5.3 (A) WCAG 2.2 violation(s).

Snazzymaps and Google maps

Online maps and mapping services are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. However, we will always attempt to provide as much related information as possible in text, e.g. postcodes, addresses and directions. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17 September 2020. It was last reviewed in November 2024.

This website was last tested by RNIB against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard and our internal team against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard in September 2024. The test was carried out manually and using automated testing tools on a representative sample of pages across the website and Database.