Accessibility Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person Technical information about this website's accessibility How we tested this website What we're doing to improve accessibility

Accessibility

This website is run by Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Northern Ireland. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 200% 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
  • clearly understand the content and instructions of the website.

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 aren't fully accessible:

  • you can't modify the line height or spacing of text
  • some older PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our online forms are quite complex and therefore difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • due to the tabular nature of some content, you may need to scroll horizontally as well as vertically.

What to do if you can't access parts of this website

If you need further information or assistance in using parts of this website, you can contact a DAERA Direct Regional Office.

A DAERA member of staff will be able to help you with your request.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren't listed on this page or think we're not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact the DAERA customer helpline on 0300 200 7852 or email daera.helpline@daera-ni.gov.uk.

If you are unhappy with the quality of service received, in the first instance, you can make a complaint to DAERA.

Enforcement procedure

If you remain dissatisfied with the Department's final response to your complaint, you can refer your case to the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI), which is responsible for enforcing accessibility regulations. You can contact them.

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Dundonald House
Upper Newtownards Road
Ballymiscaw
Belfast BT4 3SB

DAERA Headquarters map location

Call DAERA customer helpline on 0300 200 7852 or email daera.helpline@daera-ni.gov.uk.

If you have a hearing difficulty you can contact the Department via Text Relay using the Next Generation Text Service (NGTS).

  • Making a call from a textphone dial 18001 + number.
  • Making a call from a telephone dial 18002 + number.

There are also various Text to Speech applications available to use.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

DAERA 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 2.0 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Issues with technology

  • Some non-tabular content is structured in tables
  • It's not possible for users to modify text spacing or line height.

Issues with text

  • No known issues.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

  • Some of our older PDFs and Word documents don't meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they're accessible to a screen reader.
  • 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. We are working to either fix these or replace them with accessible webpages.
  • Accessibility regulations don't require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services. For example, we don't plan to fix older user guides for legacy applications.
  • Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Issues with images, video and audio

  • No known issues.

Issues with interactive tools and transactions

  • The colour contrast on main navigation bar is low. We plan to fix this issue by September 2020.
  • Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard, due to complexity of some components.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 11 June 2019. The test was carried out by DAERA Digital Services Division.

We chose to sample those pages which were most commonly used, and most representative of the general functionality and layout of the web application. The sample pages were tested for code compliance using the AChecker online testing tool and WAVE (Web Accessiblity Evaluation Tool). The pages also underwent manual testing to ensure they adhered to the four Accessibility principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust).

We tested:

  • Online Services Landing Page (http://www2.dardni.gov.uk)
  • My Services (access to page requires login)
  • Nutrient Calculators Landing Page (access to page requires login)
  • My Details - Personal Details tab (access to page requires login)
  • My Details - Business Details tab (access to page requires login)
  • The accessibility evaluation can be made available on request.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

The Department is actively engaged in improving the accessibility of its applications. As part of our 'Development Checklist', we require developers to design software with accessibility compliance built in. In those circumstances where compliance cannot be met, reasons for this should be documented, along with steps for addressing issues. We also carry out user research to ascertain user requirements and conduct usability workshopping before launching new applications.

This statement was prepared on 13 September 2019. It was last updated on 13 September 2019.