Accessibility statement for Land and Property Services Rates Support System (LPS RSS)

Accessibility statement

This service is part of the wider nidirect website. There’s a separate accessibility statement for the main nidirect website.

This page only contains information about the NI Direct Land and Property Service Rates and Support System (LPS RSS).

This statement applies to the LPS RSS web based application accessible via the www.nidirect.gov.uk domain.

This application is run by the Department of Finance. 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 application using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the application using speech recognition software
• use most of the application using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and Voice Over)

How accessible this web application is

Parts of this web application are not fully accessible. For example:

• some images and icons do not have alternative text
• some pages include missing landmark tags
• some pages and elements have poor colour contrast
• some pages have tables that become condensed and therefore hard to understand. Content is pushed together slightly too much
• some pages have not the required level of contrast ratio of at least 3.1
• some pages on the top navigation menu dropdown appears to hover (not focus) and is not dismissible
• some pages within the calendar date picker is not accessible to keyboard users
• there is no link on any page that will allow users to skip repeated content such as navigation across web pages
• all notification and action buttons have the same link text, so their purpose could be ambiguous to users navigating with a keyboard
• some pages and elements do not have the required keyboard focus
• some pages have components that do not contain the visible text

Feedback and contact information

If you need information in a different format contact us by email at DOF.Enquiries@finance-ni.gov.uk and advise us of:

• 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 LPS can be contacted on - 0300 200 7802

Reporting accessibility problems with this web application

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this web application. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us on DOF.Enquiries@finance-ni.gov.uk and we will investigate the issue.

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 we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).

Technical information about this web application accessibility

nidirect 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.

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

It is our intention to address these issues and it is expected to be completed by September 2021.

Perceivable

Level A - 1.1.1 Non-text content. All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the following situations: Controls Input, Time based Media, Test, Sensory, CAPTCHA and Decoration, Formatting, Invisible.

Level A - 1.3.1 Info and relationships. Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text.

Level AA - 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum). The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, except for the following: Large text, Incidental, Logotypes.

Level AA - 1.4.10 Reflow. Content reflows and is not lost on 400 per cent zoom, but tables become condensed and therefore hard to understand.

Level AA - 1.4.11 Non-text contrast (added in WCAG 2.1). The visual presentation of the following have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against adjacent colour(s):  User Interface Components and Graphical Objects.

Level AA - 1.4.13 Content on hover or focus (added in WCAG 2.1). Where receiving and then removing pointer hover or keyboard focus triggers additional content to become visible and then hidden, the following are true: Dismissible, Hoverable and Persistent:

Operable

Level A - 2.1.1 Keyboard. All functionality of the content is operable through a keyboard interface without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where the underlying function requires input that depends on the path of the user's movement and not just the endpoints

Level A - 2.4.1 Bypass blocks. There is mechanism to skip the navigation and focus on the main content

Level A - 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context) The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.

Level AA - 2.4.7 Focus visible. Any keyboard operable user interface has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible.

Level A (Added in WCAG 2.1) - 2.5.3 Label in name.  For user interface components with labels that include text or images of text, the name contains the text that is presented visually

Understandable

Level A - 3.3.1 Error identification.  If an input error is automatically detected, the item that is in error is identified and the error is described to the user in text.

Level A - 3.3.2 Labels or instructions.  Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input

Robust

Level A - 4.1.1 Parsing. In content implemented using mark-up languages, elements have complete start and end tags, elements are nested according to their specifications, elements do not contain duplicate attributes, and any IDs are unique, except where the specifications allow these features.

Level A - 4.1.2 Name, role, value. For all user interface components (including but not limited to: form elements, links and components generated by scripts), the name and role can be programmatically determined; states, properties, and values that can be set by the user can be programmatically set; and notification of changes to these items is available to user agents, including assistive technologies.

Level AA (Added in WCAG 2.1) 4.1.3 Status messages. In content implemented using mark-up languages, status messages can be programmatically determined through role or properties such that they can be presented to the user by assistive technologies without receiving focus.

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

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

As a web app published before 23 September 2018, we are required to comply with the web accessibility regulations from 23 September 2020.

None of our content is exempt from the accessibility regulations.

If you have any problems using this website, contact us on DOF.Enquiries@finance-ni.gov.uk and we will investigate the issue and/or provide you with the information you need in an alternative format.

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 we publish will meet the required accessibility standards.

How we tested this web application

This web application 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.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix issues according to the timescales shown for each area above.

This statement was prepared on 27 October 2020. It was last updated on 27 October 2020.