Accessibility statement for Make a claim to an Employment Tribunal

This accessibility statement applies to the website available at https://www.claim-employment-tribunals.service.gov.uk that allows users to make claims to an employment tribunal when an employer, potential employer, trade union or person at work has treated another person unlawfully.

This website is run by HM Courts and Tribunals. 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, this can be found on their website https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/.

How accessible this website is

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

  • On certain pages the focus positioning is not on the expected areas
  • On certain pages links don’t have clear descriptions of their purpose and destinations e.g. lack of information on whether the link opens in a new tab
  • Some fields do not have associated labels which affects screen readers and voice activation users
  • On certain pages, the heading levels are not in the correct order
  • Some items navigated to via the tab key on the keyboard do not have very distinct highlighting which is sometimes too hard for low vision users to determine

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 HMCTSforms@justice.gov.uk
  • call 0300 323 0196 (England & Wales)
  • call 0300 303 5176 (Welsh language)
  • call 0300 790 6234 (Scotland)

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

We will consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

  • email: ETReform@justice.gov.uk
  • call 0300 323 0196 (England & Wales)
  • call 0300 303 5176 (Welsh language)
  • call 0300 790 6234 (Scotland)

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) via their website https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/.

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.

Find out how to contact us https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-tribunal-offices-and-venues.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

HMCTS 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. The non-compliances are listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • On some pages the focus positioning is not on the expected areas which fail to meet WCAG 2.1A success criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order Level A.
  • On some pages, links did not have clear descriptions of their purpose and destinations e.g. lack of information on whether the link opens in a new tab which fail to meet WCAG 2.1A success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose Level A.
  • Some fields do not have associated labels which affects screen readers and voice activation users. This fails to meet WCAG 2.1A success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships Level A, 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value Level A and 2.5.3 Label in Name – Level A.
  • On some pages, the heading levels are not in the correct order which fail to meet WCAG 2.1A success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships Level A.
  • Some items navigated to via the tab key on the keyboard do not have very distinct highlighting which is sometimes too hard for low vision users to determine. This fails to meet WCAG 2.1A success criterion 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast Level AA.
  • Screen reader users found radio buttons lacked fieldset and legend to provide the accompanying question when navigating in and out of context. This fails 1.3.1 Info and Relationships – Level A and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels – Level AA.

We plan to rectify the issues listed above by March 2023.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as PDF/Word documents.

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

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

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

This website is currently being improved based on the digital accessibility report. We will fix the accessibility issues identified in the report and update this statement regularly. The site is continually tested using accessibility software internally and externally. Any new features which are introduced will also be tested.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 19 January 2023.

This website was last tested on 15 November 2022. The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre on four principles:

Principle 1: Perceivable – Information and users interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.

Principle 2: Operable – User interface components and navigation must be operable.

Principle 3: Understandable – Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.

Principle 4: Robust – Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

To give a more accurate review of the website the DAC team employ two differing testing processes.

The first is a manual technical audit using automated tools and the second a dedicated team of user testers with differing disabilities test using a range of adaptive technologies. The findings of both testing teams are then combined to give the client far more accurate feedback on the website.

By using the testing team in conjunction with an automated procedure a more accurate set of results are made available.