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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the policeconduct.gov.uk website. It does not cover our recruitment portal jobsearch.policeconduct.gov.uk

This website is run by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS and NVDA).

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Accessibility of this website

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Most of our guidance and publications are currently provided in PDF format only. These PDFs are not fully accessible
  • Many older PDF and Word documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Not all our website text is written in plain language, such as to the Plain Language Commission’s Clear English Standard, so it is not as simple to understand as it could be.

We are working to make our content fully accessible. In the meantime, please contact us if you need this information in an accessible format.

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

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

  • visit our easy read web page
  • email us to request information in other formats
  • visit our contact us page for other ways to get in touch

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within three working days.

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, please contact us.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with our response, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Compliance status

The IOPC 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance listed below.

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  1. Complaint form is excessively long and lacks a review step. This fails WCAG 2.4.6 (AA) and 3.3.4 (AA) success criterion.
  2. Download link prominence on publications may mislead users away from contextual pages that explain what the publication is. This fails WCAG 3.2.4 (AA) success criterion.
  3. In the Easy Read document publication page callout, the 'download publication' link does not include file type/size within the link text; the file info appears separately after the link in reading order. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) and 3.2.4 (AA) success criterion.
  4. Download links have repetitive, unhelpful link text. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 (A)
  5. On some pages, the tab order does not match the visual reading order. This fails WCAG 1.3.2 (A) and 2.4.3 (A) success criterion.
  6. When using a tablet, when tabbing with a keyboard (or Switch Control), focus moves from the top of the page (Skip to content link), through “Submit a complaint” and the Welsh language button, then jumps to a menu positioned at the very bottom-left of the screen. This focus order does not follow a logical reading or visual order. This fails WCAG 1.3.2 (A) and 2.4.3 (A) success criterion.
  7. On a mobile, the site becomes unusable beyond a low level of zoom. Elements do not reflow and overlap each other. Header/menu/padding/margins scale along with text rather than only the text resizing, causing the interface to collapse. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 (AA) and 1.4.4 (AA) success criterion.
  8. On the homepage, the news carousel requires horizontal interaction and may hide content. This fails WCAG 1.3.2 (A), 2.4.3 (A), 2.4.4 (A) and 2.4.7 (AA) success criterion.
  9. In the Publication library, hover and keyboard focus styling appears to be used for document title links and icon links, but when using a screen reader it appears the focus styling does not occur. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 (AA) success criterion.
  10. The menu bar overlaps page content, meaning users sometimes have to manually scroll to get past it because it sits in front of content and takes up a sizeable portion of the viewport. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 (AA) success criterion.
  11. The keyboard focus is not visible on the breadcrumb menu along the top of the webpage. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible success criterion.
  12. When hovering over the navigation bar dropdown menus, there is no mechanism to dismiss the additional content triggered without moving pointer hover or keyboard focus. This includes when the mouse hovers over 'About us' and 'Our work'. This fails WCAG 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus success criterion.

Many documents are in non-HTML formats, for example PDF. They are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.

Not all our website text or publications fully meet plain language standards, so they are not as simple to understand as they could be. Many of these pages or publications are intended for a professional audience, so they include terms and abbreviations which members of the public might not understand.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix third-party content that is neither funded, developed or under the control of the public sector body. For example, this might include reports or documents we publish from licensees.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working to fix content which fails to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 13 April 2026. It was last reviewed on 28 April 2026.

This website was last tested in March 2026 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard by CIVIC UK.