This accessibility statement applies to all forestresearch.gov.uk domains.
This website, and those on forestresearch.gov.uk domain, are run by Forest Research. 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 using browser or device settings
- zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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.
- Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
- Some images, maps and diagrams do not have alt text, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information.
- Some links do not fully or adequately explain their purpose, and are not distinguishable beyond colour alone.
Some websites such as Right Trees For a Changing Climate and Forest Research Decision Support Tools Portal v2.0 (forestdss.org.uk) are legacy online databases and we are working on a plan to make their content and information fully accessible.
There may also be some data visualisation dashboards available on the website that do not meet current accessibility requirements. We are working on a plan to ensure these are improved, and that all further dashboards produced are accessible by default.
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Communications Team at communications@forestresearch.gov.uk.
Similarly, if you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact the Communications Team at communications@forestresearch.gov.uk
We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 20 working days.
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).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Forest Research 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
The content listed below is not fully accessible. These issues fail one or more WCAG 2.0 A or AA success criteria. We plan to fix the issues identified as part of our ongoing accessibility improvement work, not including those that are not within the scope of the accessibility regulations.
PDF structure and readability
Some PDFs are not correctly structured, which means they may be difficult or impossible for screen reader users to navigate. This fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1, 1.3.1, 2.4.2 and 2.4.5.
The issues include:
- PDFs that are not machine readable
- PDFs without a document title or with weak titles
- PDFs without a default language specified
- PDFs missing a first‑level heading
- PDFs with headings that do not follow a logical order
- PDFs missing semantic lists or table markup
- PDFs missing required headings
- Long PDFs without bookmarks to support navigation
- Untagged PDFs
We plan to fix these issues by updating existing PDFs (excluding those published prior to 23 September 2018) and ensuring all new PDFs meet accessibility standards.
Headings, lists and tables
Some documents use incorrect or incomplete semantic structure. This fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1.
The issues include:
- Headings missing text
- Lists or groups of links not written semantically
- Tables missing header rows or header scope attributes
We plan to correct these issues as we review and update documents.
Links
Some links do not meet accessibility requirements. This fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1, 2.4.1 and 2.4.4.
The issues include:
- Alternative text that duplicates adjacent text
- Links that do not explain their purpose
- Links using the same link text for different destinations
- Links that cannot be used effectively by screen readers
We plan to fix these issues as part of our content review process.
Forms and interactive elements
Some form fields and interactive components are not correctly labelled or structured. This fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1, 4.1.2 and WCAG 2.1 AA 1.3.5, 1.4.11 and 2.5.8.
The issues include:
- Form controls without labels or with incorrect labels
- Labels that do not point to valid or unique IDs
- Missing ARIA label IDs
- Only partial or inappropriate use of labels for form controls
- Groups of related form items not wrapped in a fieldset
- Fields that cannot be identified programmatically
- Controls that do not change appearance when they receive focus
- Interactive components placed too close together
- Form controls with insufficient contrast
We plan to fix these issues by updating form templates and reviewing all interactive components.
Navigation and page structure
Some pages do not provide mechanisms to help users navigate content. This fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.2.
The issues include:
- Frames without titles
We plan to fix these issues as part of our template updates.
Contrast
Some text does not meet minimum contrast requirements. This fails WCAG 2.0 AA 1.4.3 and WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.11.
The issues include:
- Text with insufficient contrast
- Form controls with insufficient contrast
We plan to fix these issues by adjusting colours used (within the scope of our brand guidelines) and reviewing all affected components.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs, Word and open document format downloads are essential for us to provide our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.
We constantly review how our website is used, and will prioritise making our most frequently downloaded documents available in fully accessible formats. All new downloads will be accessible by default.
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. For example, we do not plan to fix archive PDFs published prior to September 2018.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations, however we have included subtitles for all of our videos published after January 2024.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We’re now using a Web Governance tool to constantly monitor our website accessibility and we’re making adjustments to content and our user interface on a monthly basis to ensure our website is as accessible as it can be.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared in 2018. It was last updated on 16 February 2026.
This website was last tested for accessibility in February 2026. The test was carried out by the internal team at Forest Research using an industry-standard website governance and accessibility tool.