Accessibility statement for landlord registration services
This page explains how accessible the nidirect landlord registration service (LLR) is and what is being done to improve accessibility.
Accessibility statement
This service is part of the wider nidirect website. There’s a separate accessibility statement for the main nidirect website.
This statement applies to the Landlord registration services web based app accessible via the www.nidirect.gov.uk domain.
This app is run by the Department of Communities. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. The text should be clear and simple to understand. When accessing the app through the web browser, you should be able to:
- zoom in up to 300 per cent without problems
- navigate most of the app using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the app using speech recognition software
- use most of the app using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and Voice Over)
How accessible this web app is
Parts of this web app are not fully accessible. For example:
- on some images, the text doesn’t always describe with great clarity what the image is trying to convey
- some pages include missing landmark tags
- on all pages on the customer portal the links in the header and the footer are not underlined to indicate that they are links
- some pages and elements have poor colour contrast
- some pages have not the required level of contrast ratio of at least 3.1
- some pages have loss of content or functionality
Feedback and contact information
If you need information in a different format contact us by using the feedback form and tell us:
- the web address (URL) of the content
- your name and email address
- the format you need, for example, audio CD, braille, BSL or large print, accessible PDF
Contacting us by phone to process an application
Alternatively NI Direct can be contacted on 0300 200 7821.
Reporting accessibility problems with this web app
LLR is always looking to improve the accessibility of this web app. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think LLR is not meeting accessibility requirements, contact landlordregistrar@communities-ni.gov.uk.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’) in Northern Ireland.
If you’re not happy with how LLR respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).
Technical information about this web apps accessibility
NI Direct is committed to making its website and apps accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance Status
This web app is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.
The ‘non-compliances are listed below. LLR is currently working towards developing a timeline of when they plan to fix these issues and this will be updated when available.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
The content that is not accessible is outlined below with details of:
- the accessibility problem(s)
- where it fails the success criteria
Perceivable
Level A - 1.1.1 Non-text content. There are a number of images used throughout the customer portal, particularly on the landlord registration landing page. While they contain alternative text which is helpful for those who use screen readers, the text doesn’t always describe with great clarity what the image is trying to convey.
Level A - 1.3.1 Info and relationships. Across both the customer and employee portals, there are missing landmark tags.
Level A - 1.4.1 Use of Colour. The links in the header and the footer are not underlined to indicate that they are links. They are therefore only relying on the fact that they are a different colour to indicate that they are links. Underline the links so that it’s more obvious to those with visual impairments that they can click on them.
Level AA - 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum). There are many cases throughout the customer and employee portal where the colour contrast between the text and the background is not high enough making it difficult for some users to read.
Level AA - 1.4.11 Non-text contrast (added in WCAG 2.1). The images on the landing page use two shades of blue - #b0e5f7 for the background colour and #6daabf for the foreground colour. They do not have high enough contrast between them and have a contrast ratio of 1.88:1 meaning they may be difficult to see for some users.
Level AA - 1.4.12 Text spacing (added in WCAG 2.1). Some pages have loss of content or functionality.
Operable
Level A - 2.4.1 Bypass blocks. On the employee portal there is no skip link on any of the pages that on activation will allow users to skip to the main content of the page.
Level A - 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context). On the customer portal the link in the top right corner which shows which user you are logged in as contains an empty link. It does not contain any text. There is no alt tag,
Level AA - 2.4.5 Multiple ways. On both the customer and employee portals the main navigation is consistent in terms of the labels used and it’s positioning. However there needs to be improvements to the colours used as described in section 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum).
Understandable
Level A - 3.3.1 Error identification. When navigating the pages with a screen reader, if there are errors on the page the screen reader does not identify and read out which fields have errors
Robust
Level A - 4.1.1 Parsing. The ID addressLookupCriteria is used 4 times on this page. IDs must be unique. Where there are duplicate IDs this can cause problems for assistive technologies.
Level A - 4.1.2 Name, role, value. Each <a> element must contain text or an img with an alt attribute
Level AA (Added in WCAG 2.1) 4.1.3 Status messages. Across the pages audited the error messages do not contain aria-live tags. It is recommended to use these tags to assist those who use screen readers
Disproportionate burden
Not applicable.
Content that’s not within the scope of accessibility regulations
As a web app published before 23 September 2018, LLR is required to comply with the web accessibility regulations from 23 September 2020. However, some of our content is exempt from the accessibility regulations.
If you have any problems using this website contact landlordregistrar@communities-ni.gov.uk.
PDFs and other documents
Many documents are non-accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or other documents LLR publish will meet the required accessibility standards.
How this web app was tested
This web app was and is currently being tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 level A and level AA, and these tests have been carried out externally and independently.
The Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach was used in deciding on a sample of pages to test.
What LLR is doing to improve accessibility
LLR is currently working towards developing a timeline of when they plan to fix these issues and this will be updated when available.
This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last updated on 22 September 2020.