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Accessibility statement for the Food Hygiene Ratings service

This accessibility statement applies to the Food Hygiene Ratings service ratings.food.gov.uk.

Last updated: 2 August 2021
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This website is run by the Food Standards Agency. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. 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
  • 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, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text 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 this website are not fully accessible. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the Non-accessible content section of this statement.

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: 

We will consider your request and get back to you within 5 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:

Read tips on contacting organisations about inaccessible websites. 

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).

If you are in Northern Ireland and are not happy with how we respond to your complaint you can contact the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland who are responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’) in Northern Ireland. 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Food Standards Agency 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 partially 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.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • On the Service page the 'search for food hygiene ratings' users focus order is not relocated when the 'more search options' is actioned. Screen reader users in particular will be unaware that content has been expanded above the button. (WCAG A 2.4.3, Focus Order) 
  • Some lists are not marked up correctly. This may cause confusion for screen reader users, as it may cause problems with navigation. Users are still able to navigate the content as required but it might not have the correct mark up.  (WCAG A 4.1.1 Parsing)
  • The table on the Food Hygiene ratings status page does not have the correct heading formatting applied. The headers in the table will not be announced by a screen reader when activated. This should not cause too many problems as the table has a logical order and users can navigate through using a keyboard only. (WCAG 2.1 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.)  
  • Some of the page titles are not unique or descriptive and are replicated across the site. This can cause confusion for screen reader users as the the page titles are often used for navigational purposes (WCAG A 2.1 2.4.2 Page Titled)
  • Some of our links do not have discernible text, the most specific issue is with FSA logo. This could cause confusion for screen reader users as the links do not have a clear purpose. (WCAG A 2.1 2.4.4 Link Purpose (in context).

We plan to fix these issues by 31 December 2021. 

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims.

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

At this time, we have not identified any content that is not within scope of the accessibility regulations. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 2 August 2021. 

This website was last tested in September 2020. The test was carried out by Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC).

We plan to continuously monitor accessibility using automated checking services.

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