Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the london-fire.gov.uk website.

This website is run by London Fire Brigade. 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:

• the website menu cannot be easily navigated using a keyboard or screen reader at high zoom levels 
• the search filters cannot be accessed using a keyboard or screen reader at high zoom levels 
• the Home Fire Safety Checker tool has some accessibility issues, mainly around visibility of focus 
• on some of our forms the autocomplete function may not work consistently 
• the virtual Hazard House cannot be navigated using only a keyboard, and the content cannot be read using a screen reader 

You can read the full accessibility report here.

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 digital@london-fire.gov.uk
• call 020 8555 1200
• write to London Fire Brigade Head Office, 169 Union Street, London, SE1 0LL
• complete our contact us form

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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:

The digital team via digital@london-fire.gov.uk

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.

Complete our contact us form.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

London Fire Brigade 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• The website menu cannot be easily navigated using a keyboard or screen reader at high zoom levels. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.2 (No keyboard trap), 2.4.7 (Focus visible) and 4.1.2 (Name, role, value). 
• The search filters cannot be accessed using a keyboard or screen reader at high zoom levels. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard) and 4.1.2 (Name, role, value). 
• The Home Fire Safety Checker tool has some accessibility issues, mainly around visibility of focus. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of colour) and 2.4.7 (Focus visible). 
• On some of our forms the autocomplete function may not work consistently. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5 (Identify input purpose). 
• For the complete list of issues you can read the full accessibility report here. We are currently working with our web agency to prioritise and resolve all these issues. That work will be completed by June 2023. 

Third party tools

• The virtual Hazard House tool is provided and hosted by a third party. It cannot be navigated using only a keyboard, and the content cannot be read using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard) and 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We have, however, ensured that the information provided by the virtual Hazard House tool is provided elsewhere on the website, in an accessible format.

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

PDFs and other documents

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. However, we have spent time improving the accessibility of all our PDFs – to ensure they have titles, a set language, and bookmarks.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

It’s possible that you will find an occasional PDF that has not yet been fixed. If that’s the case please let us know so we can take action.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 11 November 2022.

The website was last fully tested on 16th June 2020. The test was carried out by Great State. An audit of a selection of pages was also carried out on 15th August 2022. That audit was carried out by the Government Digital Service (GDS).

GDS used a combination of auditing tools and manual checks to audit a sample of pages on this website against WCAG 2.1 (AA) Accessibility Standard, paying particular attention to 13 pages we identified as representing the different page templates in use across our site.