Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement for MI5

Accessibility Statement for MI5 

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 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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: 

  • forms have a text-based CAPTCHA, with no alternative provided.
  • Accessible names are not provided or incorrectly given to images and buttons.
  • Not all content can be interacted with when navigating using Dragon Naturally Speaking. 

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, complete our accessibility contact form. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days. 

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, complete our accessibility contact form. 

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 

MI5 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. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below. 

Non-accessible content 

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

Contact us and Accessibility Request forms 

The ‘Contact Us’ and ‘Accessibility Request’ forms have a text-based CAPTCHA, with no alternative provided. People with visual impairments may be unable to complete this task and submit the forms. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). Due to the sensitive nature of contact form submissions, we are assessing the impact of alternative CAPTCHA options on our contact forms. 

Audio and video content 

Where pre-recorded videos are present, these either lack captions or only have auto-generated captions which may be incorrect. People who are deaf or have a hearing loss may not be able to access the auditory information within the media content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2 (captions (pre-recorded)). We plan to resolve this by: December 2025 

Where pre-recorded videos are present, a second user-selectable audio description track is not provided. People who are blind or have low vision may have difficulty interpreting visually what is happening within the video content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.5 (audio description (pre-recorded)). We plan to resolve this by: December 2025

Accessing information Images of text are present. 

People with low vision may have trouble reading the text with the authored font family, size and/or colour and screen reader users may not have access to text contained within the images. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text). We plan to resolve this by: December 2025 

Interactive tools and transactions 

Checkboxes and flip cards are unable to be interacted with using voice commands when navigating with Dragon Naturally Speaking. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). 

We do not plan to resolve this issue and suggest an alternative voice command tool. We have successfully tested with NVDA screen reader and VoiceOver on a Mac device. We have also made improvements to the flip cards that allow selecting the cards to read the full description. 

Mobile Surveillance Quiz 

  • The focus is not always obvious as to its location on the screen. This fails success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible).
  • Multiple-choice questions are automatically selected when tabbing between the choices. This unexpected change of context may result in people becoming disoriented. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.2.1 (on focus).
  • Users don’t receive clear guidance on what to do when starting the quiz, making it for some users to understand how to proceed. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2.
  • There is no video description available, making it inaccessible to those who have visual impairments. This fails WCAG 2.2 criterion 1.2.1.
  • The video plays automatically, which can be disruptive for users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.2.2.
  • The pause button is not placed where it would typically be expected in a video player. This fails WCAG 2.2 criterion 2.4.6.
  • Answer options rely on images with no text equivalent. This fails WCAG 2.2 criterion 2.5.3 and 1.1.1. 

We are planning to fix these issues by July 2025. 

Listening Quiz 

The focus is not always obvious as to its location on the screen. This fails success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible). 

Multiple-choice questions are automatically selected when tabbing between the choices. This unexpected change of context may result in people becoming disoriented. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.2.1 (on focus). 

We are planning to fix these issues by July 2025. 

Are you MI5 ready? Quiz 

When tabbing the page, a consistently visible focus indicator is not always present. Keyboard users may have difficulty visually determining the component currently in focus. This fails WCAG 2.2 We are planning to fix these issues by July 2025. 

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

PDFs and other documents. 

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. We are in the process of improving the accessibility of these or replacing them with HTML pages where possible. 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. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 01/01/2025. It was last reviewed on 01/01/2025. This website was last tested on 04/04/2024. The test was carried out by Zoonou. Zoonou used WCAG-EM to define a representative selection of pages and test approach.