Accessibility statement for Register to Vote

This statement applies to the Register to Vote service which is designed to be used by all eligible individuals. This service is part of the wider GOV.UK website. There’s a separate accessibility statement for the main GOV.UK website.

This statement only applies to the Register to Vote service, available from the following page — https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Using this service

This service is run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this service. 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
  • get from the start of the service to the end using just a keyboard
  • get from the start of the service to the end using speech recognition software
  • listen to the service using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the text in the service 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 the Register to Vote service are not fully accessible. The following may present an issue that affects your use of the website:

  • Users are not warned of the duration in which inactivity could cause data loss and data is not preserved. This timeout window is also shorter than the recommended period for AAA success. As such, the service does not currently satisfy WCAG Success Criterion 2.2.6: Timeouts
  • Link text throughout the service does not contrast sufficiently with its background to meet WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.6: Contrast (Enhanced). This issue has been raised with the GOV.UK Design System team

We will continue to explore ways that we can rectify these issues.

Feedback and contact information

If you have difficulty using this service, contact us by:

As part of providing this service, we may need to send you messages or documents. We’ll ask you how you want us to send messages or documents to you — post or email — but if you need them in a different format such as large print, audio recording or braille, then please contact your Electoral Registration Office directly.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this service. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the accessibility requirements, contact ierservice@elections.gov.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’) in England, Scotland and Wales. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

If you are based in Northern Ireland, complaints should be sent to the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) instead of the EASS and EHRC.

Technical information about this service’s accessibility

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is committed to making this service accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This service is fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

This service is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AAA standard, due to the issues mentioned above.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continuously reviewing and iterating our service to mitigate the impact of this timeout window, and generally maintain the highest possible standard of accessibility.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 2nd March 2021. It was last reviewed on 21st December 2023.

This website was last tested on 13th December 2023. The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre’s (DAC) user and technical testing team.

The DAC team employed two testing methods. The first was a manual technical audit using automated tools. The second method involved a dedicated team of user testers with differing disabilities and aided by a range of adaptive technologies.

The findings of both testing teams were then combined to give us feedback on the accessibility status of the Register to Vote service.