Accessibility Statement for Heritage Data

How accessible this website is

We know this website is not optimised for accessibility.

Feedback and contact information

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

• email [email protected]
• call 0370 333 0607
• Between: 09:00 - 17:00 Monday to Friday

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in five 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 or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact customer services on [email protected], who will pass your request on to the appropriate team.

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 by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Historic England 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 not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non accessible content

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

The website fails the following Level A criteria:

• 1.1.1 – Non-text Content: Provide text alternatives for non-text content
• 1.3.1 – Info and Relationships: Logical structures
• 1.3.2 – Meaningful Sequence: Present content in a meaningful order
• 1.3.3 – Sensory Characteristics: Use more than one sense for instructions
• 2.1.2 – No Keyboard Trap: Don’t trap keyboard users
• 2.4.2 – Page Titled: Helpful and clear page title
• 2.4.3 – Focus Order: Tabbing in logical Order
• 2.4.4 – Link Purpose (In Context): Every link’s purpose is clear from its context
• 2.5.3 – Label in Name: The name contains the text that is presented visually
• 3.2.1 – On Focus: Elements do not change when they receive focus
• 3.2.2 – On Input: Elements do not change when they receive input
• 3.3.1 – Error Identification: Clearly identify input errors
• 3.3.2 – Labels or Instructions: Label elements and give instructions
• 4.1.1 – Parsing: No major code errors
• 4.1.2 – Name, Role, Value: Build all elements for accessibility

The website fails the following Level AA criteria:

• 1.4.3 – Contrast (Minimum): Contrast ratio between text and background is at least 4.5:1
• 1.4.5 – Images of Text: Don’t use images of text
• 1.4.11 – Non-Text Contrast: High contrast between pieces of text and their backgrounds
• 2.4.5 – Multiple Ways: Offer several ways to find pages
• 2.4.6 – Headings and Labels: Use clear headings and labels
• 2.4.7 – Focus Visible: Keyboard focus is visible and clear
• 3.2.4 – Consistent Identification: Use icons and buttons consistently
• 4.1.3 – Status Messages: Status messages can be presented to the user by assistive technologies without receiving focus

Disproportionate burden

We are constantly working to make sure our digital offer provides the best user experience for those with accessibility needs.

In our accessibility statement, we have identified multiple issues using Heritage Data. We believe fixing the issues now would represent a disproportionate burden. The justification for this is outlined below.

While the initial interface for the website was built using WordPress the majority of the content is populated by a complex and outdated database, see an example here. The data presented via this website will migrate into a new platform, Arches, as part of an organisation-wide initiative to centralise heritage data. As part of that project, the heritage data available via this website will form part of a website serving consolidated heritage data. This is a large and complex long term project which has been in progress since 2013. While this is a very complex project we hope to launch the heritage data aspect in 2022. This will be tested for compliance against the accessibility regulations.

In summary, we felt that fixing accessibility issues with a website which has not been updated since 2016 at this stage represented a disproportionate burden because the website is due to be replaced with a newer offer, where these issues will be addressed.  We hope to launch the new offer in 2022 and this will be tested for compliance against the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

It is Historic England’s intention for the service currently available at https://heritagedata.org/ to be replaced by an offer fully compliant with the accessibility standards in 2022.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 25 August 2021.

This website was last tested on 14 November 2019. The test was carried out by Cadence Innova.

We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test: We based the sample of pages for external testing on a list of the various templates used on the website.