Accessibility statement for NHS Jobs – Employers

This accessibility statement applies to users who advertise and recruit for job vacancies on the NHS Jobs website.

This website is run by the NHS Business Services Authority. 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
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate the website using speech recognition software (including the most recent version of Dragon and VoiceControl)
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent version of 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, as:

on some pages, primary navigation bar menu options disappear or are inconsistent when zoomed in 200% or more
redundant links are present on some pages which will result in extra navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users
on some pages, navigating the dropdown menu with the keyboard can trigger a page change which may confuse the keyboard and screen reader users
screen reader users may experience difficulties in identifying elements, as invalid ARIA roles are assigned to some elements
screen reader users will have difficulties in identifying the correct change link as some of the links have incorrect text on the report’s ‘Check your answers’ pages
on most of the pages, skip links shift the user focus to the main content but the focused content is not highlighted - this may cause difficulties for users to identify which element the focus has been shifted to
in a focused state, some links have insufficient colour contrast which can make the text not visible to the users
on some pages, the error links will not take the user to the input field that is causing the error
on some pages, the change link will not take the user to intended input fields
on some pages, the page title and page heading are not the same which may cause confusion to screen reader users
on some pages, ID attributes are not unique which may cause difficulties for screen readers to identify the associated elements
the error messages on reporting screens will not be recognised by speech recognition tools like Dragon
screen reader users may experience difficulties with identifying heading, list, tables and reading order as it is not tagged properly in the PDF documents downloaded from the NHS Jobs website
screen reader users will have difficulties switching to the appropriate language as the primary text language of the PDF document is not specified
users will have difficulties identifying titles in the downloadable PDF documents
PDF documents that are downloaded do not follow a logical order when using the Tab or Shift-Tab keys to navigate, which will cause difficulties for users navigating with a keyboard
PDF documents that are downloaded contains images with no alternate text which will cause difficulties for screen reader users
many features on the website need to be accessibility-reviewed to make sure they’re implemented correctly for users with accessibility needs
the structure of the pages needs to be reviewed to make sure they meet accessibility guidelines
the use of ARIA labels on the website needs to be reviewed to make sure they meet accessibility guidelines

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille you can contact us by:

Email: accessibility@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

This inbox is only for accessibility queries. This inbox is not for technical queries or IT problems. If you have a query that is not about accessibility, go to the ‘Contact us’ section of this page.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, you can contact us by:

Email: accessibility@nhsbsa.nhs.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).

Contact us

For all queries not accessibility related, you can contact us by:

Email: nhsjobsenquiries@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

NHS Business Services Authority 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

On some pages, the primary navigation bar menu options disappear or are inconsistent when zoomed in 200% or more. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10 (Zoom and reflow).

Redundant links are present on some pages which will result in extra navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose).

On some pages, navigating the dropdown menu with the keyboard can trigger a page change which may confuse the keyboard and screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.1.1 (Keyboard) and 3.2.2 (On Input).

Screen reader users may experience difficulties in identifying elements, as invalid ARIA roles are assigned to some elements. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

Screen reader users will have difficulties identifying the correct change link as some of the links have incorrect text on the report’s ‘Check your answers’ pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions) and 2.4.4 (Link Purpose).

On most of the pages, skip links shift the user focus to the main content but the focused content is not highlighted. This may cause difficulties for users to identify which element the focus has been shifted to. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks) and 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).

In focused state, some links have insufficient colour contrast which can make the text not visible to the users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.13 (Focus Appearance), 2.4.7 (Focus Visible) and 1.4.3 (Contrast).

On some pages, the error links will not take the user to the input field that is causing the error. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 (Error identification).

On some pages, the change link will not take the user to intended input fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (Tab Indexes).

On some pages, the page title and page heading are not the same which may cause confusion to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled).

On some pages, ID attributes are not unique which may cause difficulties for screen readers to identify the associated elements. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 (Parsing).

The error messages on reporting screens will not be recognised by speech recognition tools like Dragon. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.1 (Error Identification) and 3.3.3 (Error Suggestion).

Screen reader users may experience difficulties with identifying heading, list, tables and reading order as it is not tagged properly in the PDF documents downloaded from the NHS Jobs website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships) and 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence).

Screen reader users will have difficulties to switch to appropriate language as the primary text language of the document is not specified. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page).

Users will have difficulties identifying titles in the downloadable PDF documents. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled).

The PDF document(s) that are downloaded do not follow a logical order when using the Tab or Shift-Tab keys to navigate, which will cause difficulties for users navigating with a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order).

The PDF document(s) that are downloaded contains images with no alternate text which will cause difficulties for screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships) and 4.1.2 (Name, role, value).

Many features on the website need to be accessibility-reviewed to make sure they’re implemented correctly for users with accessibility needs.

The structure of the website screens needs to be reviewed to make sure they meet accessibility guidelines.

The use of ARIA labels on the website needs to be reviewed to make sure they meet accessibility guidelines.

When we publish new content, we’ll make sure it meets accessibility standards.

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. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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

Document Upload

Due to an issue with Dragon and some older versions of this assistive technology, users will have difficulties interacting with the document upload buttons. We advise Dragon users to use the mousegrid to interact with the file upload feature.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We’re committed to making sure this website is compliant to WCAG 2.1 ‘AA’ standard.

Every new released website will be designed, built and tested to meet ‘AA’ standards by default.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 16 October 2023.

This website was last tested on 2 October 2023. The test was carried out by NHSBSA test and front-end development teams.

We tested all of the website screens to meet ‘AA’ WCAG 2.1 standards, using manual and automated tests.

We run each webpage through automated Wave, Lighthouse and Axe accessibility tools and then manually test with screen readers (NVDA and VoiceOver) and standards checklists.

We run representative user journey tests through speech recognition software (Dragon or VoiceControl).

The checklists contain standards that have been compiled using WCAG, NHS service manual and Government Digital Service (GDS) guidance.