Accessibility statement for www.britishmuseum.org

How accessible this website is

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

• Some images do not have image descriptions. Most images within Collection online have image descriptions but due to the technical limitations of the database these descriptions are in the description for the item and not attached to the image itself.
• The Museum map is presented as a non-interactive image with poor contrast. PDF and text alternative versions are available, but these may not be usable by all users.
• Some older PDF and Microsoft Office documents on the website are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Live video streams do not have captions.
• 3D objects using the third-party plugin Sketchfab are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• The Great Court Restaurant uses a third-party booking form which is not fully accessible to screen reader software and keyboard users. If you are unable to use the form, please email [email protected] to contact the restaurant.
• Within our Schools section are a number of games developed for children. These are built with a third-party plugin which is not accessible for all users.
• The podcast player cannot be used by keyboard users and some users of assistive technologies.
• Embedded interactive multimedia such as videos, audio and 3D objects is not visible to users who have rejected cookies. This is because tracking cookies are present within these media and/or players which must be blocked under the GDPR unless the user has accepted them.
• Some content is hosted on archived microsites which, due to their age and the different technologies available when each one was set up, are not accessible.

Feedback and contact information

Email us at [email protected], or fill out our online enquiries form.

If you need information from our website in a different format such as accessible PDFs, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille we'll do our best to support you. Please provide us with:

• The web address (URL) of the content you need
• The format you need it in
• Your name and email address

We welcome your feedback. We will aim to get back to you in 21 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, please email us at [email protected], or fill out our online enquiries 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).

Contacting us to visit in person

If you need any assistance or information to help you plan a visit to the Museum, please contact us: 

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8971

You can also read our Accessibility at the Museum page for more information.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The British Museum 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 has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard and was found to be partially compliant 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 Museum map is represented by an image with poor colour contrast, making it inaccessible to most visually impaired users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1: Non-text content.
• Alternative text for images in object records in Collection online is in the description for the item and not attached to the image itself, which may cause confusion for screen reader users. Some descriptions are well-written, and others are overly basic (e.g., 'coin'). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1: Non-text content.
• Cookie banner: Some elements within lists are not contained in or owned by the correct parent role. Some elements within lists also contain elements with other roles. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and relationships.
• On the Blog, ARIA labels on elements and roles prohibit naming. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and relationships.
• The Restaurant booking calendar has multiple accessibility issues:
  • Input fields in the modal indicate errors only with a red outline and provide no guidance on how to correct them. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.4.1: Use of colour, 3.3.1: Error identification and 3.3.3: Error suggestion.
  • The focus outline on the button does not have enough contrast to the adjacent text. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11: Non-text content.
  • When the modal opens, focus is not automatically set inside it, and users must tab through other page content to reach the fields. Once the modal is open, focus is not constrained within the modal and users can tab out unintentionally. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3: Focus order.
  • The button that opens the model has no indication that it launches a pop-up. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, role, value.
• On some teasers, the grey text on a black background and vice versa does not have sufficient contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum).
• The colour contrast on parts of Shop slices, the Collection search page and the Research Projects page is not sufficient. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11: Non-text contrast.
• Keyboard users cannot tab to the ‘Back to top’ button. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard.
• Interactive features such as 3D models and schools' games cannot be fully used with a keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard.
• Quick navigation (On this page) links are missing on some pages or could be improved (e.g. linking directly to long contact forms), making it slower to bypass large blocks of content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1: Bypass blocks.
• After applying search filters on Exhibitions and events, the focus highlight is automatically moved back to the first filter instead of remaining on the activated filter or moving to the search results, disrupting the logical navigation sequence for keyboard users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3: Focus order.
• When using the site search, whether you use the search bar or the filter, focus returns to the top of the page instead of staying in the same place or on the first result when the search is completed. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3: Focus order.
• On various pages, the CSS outline or border style on some elements make it difficult or impossible to see the link focus outline. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7: Focus visible.
• The Collection search filter has no visible focus outline and only a low contrast background colour change, making it more difficult to know which one is in focus. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7: Focus visible.
• On the Podcast page, the focus highlights are almost invisible for the podcast player sections. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7: Focus visible.
• On image sliders with bullet navigation, the bullets for navigation would be difficult for someone with shaky hands to click, as they are too small. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.8: Target size (Minimum).
• Podcast access changes behaviour unexpectedly after rejecting cookies, blocking content and forcing a different user journey. Some of these issues relate to the Museum's method of compliance with the GDPR, but it still fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.2.2: On input.
• Expanding the main menu obscures homepage headers and content, preventing users from accessing underlying information until the menu is collapsed. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.1: Name, role, value.

Disproportionate burden

Collection online

Links to information about object treatment records in Collection online are poorly described. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose: In Context. These records are sourced from a pre-existing internal database which includes data that is not formatted to current accessibility standards. Due to the size of the database and the complexity of the task, we believe that it would be a disproportionate burden to fix this issue. If any users experience accessibility problems, please contact us and we will endeavour to provide the data required in a more suitable format for your needs.

Content that's not within 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. 

Any new PDFs or other documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Pre-recorded media

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix pre-recorded time-based media published before 23 September 2020. 

Any new video content we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live audio and video

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

Objects within our collection, archives and libraries

These are exempt under the accessibility regulations and there are no plans to update all historic content. However, where possible, and on request, we may be able to provide information in alternative formats.

Third party content

We use a number of third-party services on this website. The design and implementation of these are not under our control, and therefore they are exempt from the accessibility regulations. However, we make them accessible where we can and raise any other issues with the supplier. These include:

• Cookiebot (cookie consent pop-up)
  • Some elements within lists are not contained in or owned by the correct parent role. Some elements within lists also contain elements with other roles. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and relationships.
• Soundcloud (audio content)
  • Sound files embedded with Soundcloud do have a title attribute. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• Google Maps (interactive maps)
• Sketchfab (3D content)
  • 3D models cannot be fully used with a keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard and 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• Designmynight (Great Court Restaurant booking form)
  • The restaurant booking widget does not work fully with screen readers, preventing navigation. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content).
• Puzzel (Games for schools)
  • These games cannot be fully used with a keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard and 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• YouTube (video content)
• Hotjar (survey pop-ups)
  • Hotjar is used sometimes on this website. It may not be fully accessible to all users.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

As noted above, the British Museum runs many websites, including a number of microsites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to providing websites that are accessible to all and we are working hard to achieve that, but the scale and complexity of the task provides a number of challenges.

We are also:

• Ensuring that all new components are built to the highest WCAG standards possible.
• Continuing to test our new designs and products with a broad and diverse range of audiences.
• Rolling out accessibility training to staff who create content and new products.
• Raising general accessibility awareness across the Museum.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 13 March 2026. It was last reviewed on 2 June 2026.

This website was last tested in February 2026. The test was carried out by Passion4Social. We tested all components and modules that we use to build our page templates. We then tested a sample of our page templates, which included all components.

If you would like to view the full accessibility report, which includes details of what was tested, please email [email protected].