How accessible this website is

We are aware that this website is not yet fully accessible, with the main problems being:

• Some text size, spacing and line height is not currently adjustable
• Colour contrast is insufficient in some buttons, diagrams and footnotes
• Keyboard tabbing navigation does not work for all content, including the main navigation menu, and is sometimes poorly ordered
• You cannot skip to the main content
• Some images and maps are missing alt text, or have unhelpful alt text
• Many pages have incorrect heading structure
• Many pages have unclear call to action links
• A small number of pages use tables incorrectly
• Some page elements do not have visible focus
• Some forms are poorly labelled
• Most older videos do not have captions, descriptions or transcripts
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

We are currently implementing a plan to address these problems. Resolving many of these issues will depend on upgrading our website's content management system. We expect to roll out this upgrade in 2021.  

Work to optimise page content is ongoing. We are prioritising errors on our most popular pages as they affect more users.

Contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact our digital communications team:

[email protected]
+44 (0) 20 7352 8133

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 3 working 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, please contact our digital communications team:

[email protected]
+44 (0) 20 7352 8133

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 Institute of Cancer Research 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to fix this. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some image alt text is missing or unhelpful. We are progressively fixing this during 2020-21.

Most of our pages have incorrect heading structure. This is caused by our content management system software, and will be resolved as part of a system upgrade expected in 2021.

There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option). We intend to resolve this as part of a system upgrade and redesign expected in 2021.

Content in dropdown and accordion panels is not easily keyboard navigable. We intend to resolve this as part of a system upgrade and redesign expected in 2021.

On some pages focus order is incorrect or not logical. We intend to resolve this as part of a system upgrade and redesign expected in 2021.

On a small number of page elements, visible focus is missing. We intend to resolve this as part of a redesign expected in 2021.

Many key navigation buttons and links are unlabelled or have unhelpful descriptions. We are progressively fixing this during 2020-21.

Colour contrast is insufficient on some buttons, panels and in the website footer. We intend to resolve this as part of a redesign expected in 2021.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Some of our forms are built and hosted through third party software, and we are working with suppliers to improve their accessibility.

Disproportionate burden

Some of our older videos do not have subtitles, or have only automatically-generated subtitles. These videos relate to news stories and now form part of our news archive. As the news value of these stories has now passed, and we are not actively promoting the videos, we consider it a disproportionate burden to ensure that the videos meet the requirements of the accessibility guidelines.

Some older PDF documents do not fully comply with guidelines such as text alternatives, heading structure, and accessibility of data presented in tables. These documents were often produced by research teams as outputs from research projects which have now completed or moved into a new phase. While we continue to host an archive of documents as a service to the research community, the original creators of the files are no longer in a position to update or replace them, and we therefore consider it a disproportionate burden to ensure that all archive documents meet the requirements of the accessibility guidelines.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are committed to improving the accessibility of our website. During 2021 we will upgrade our content management system and website design to address many of the known limitations. 

In addition, during 2020-21 we are:

• Auditing existing pages on the website to optimise content for accessibility and usability
• Removing obsolete web content
• Training our website editors and content contributors to ensure that new content is produced in line with best practice
• Improving our processes for producing audio and visual content to ensure accessibility is considered throughout production
• Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared in October 2020. It was last reviewed in December 2020.

This website was last tested in September 2020. The test was carried out by Web Usability Partnership and the ICR. We tested a sample of pages which provided representative examples from the breadth of templates, functionality and technology used on the website.