Accessibility

This website is run by the National Forest Company. We are committed to accessibility, and we want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means you should be able to:

• 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 have 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 is this website? 

This website has launched May 2024 and has been designed and built to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA Standard, however we know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible, these include: 

• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software 
• Live video streams do not have captions 
• Some videos may not have captions or audio alternatives 
• Some of our online forms may be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard 
• There is a limit to how far you can magnify the maps on this website

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, or you cannot view a map on the website and need directions, please contact us: 

• Email us using our contact form. 
• Telephone: 01283 551211 
• In writing: National Forest Company, Enterprise Glade, Bath Yard, Moira, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE12 6BA

We will consider your request and get back to you within 20 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are committed to making our website accessible and are continuously working on the issues that are known to us. We keep a report and roadmap of any known issues. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, you can report this by emailing: accessibility@nationalforest.org 

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 issue or complaint, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

For people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment and want to contact us by phone, please call us using a text relay service. Our office reception is situated on the ground floor with no steps, wide doors and a reception desk to accommodate visitors in a wheelchair. We do not currently have audio induction loops, however, you can contact us before your visit to explore options of arranging a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, if required.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The National Forest Company 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

There is no content listed which is non-accessible.  

Non-compliance with accessibility regulations 

We are working on these issues. 

• Some media content does not have a text alternative for video content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3 (Audio description or media alternative (pre-recorded)).

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming disproportionate burden for any content.

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

Third-party content 

• In order to provide enhanced content for our 'explore' section, businesses can provide content documents that are uploaded to include more detail on their business, such as menus, posters, leaflets, etc. Whilst we encourage and try to enforce businesses to make their content accessible, we cannot guarantee that all documents meet guidelines. If you encounter a problem with any of these documents please let us know and we will help as best we can.   
• Some forms and user journeys, such as pages within our checkout process, are hosted through third party suppliers and software, that we have no control over.
• Our forms use hCaptcha to prevent spam enquiries. Anyone unable to access any part of the site due to the hCaptcha can contact accessibility@nationalforest.org 
• We use Google Maps and Mapbox. We understand that this is inaccessible to some user groups. For example, the items on a map cannot be tabbed onto via keyboard-only commands.These services are a third-party source and its functionality is beyond our control. If you require an accessible map, please contact accessibility@nationalforest.org.

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 Word documents. In most cases, we will ensure these are accessible to you, however we cannot guarantee that all documents will meet your needs. Therefore if you require something in a certain way, please contact: accessibility@nationalforest.org.

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. Therefore we do not plan to fix old research papers for example. 

Live video 

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We are committed to making our website accessible and are continuously working on the issues that are known to us. We keep a report and roadmap of any known issues. We also undergo regular accessibility testing to find issues. This website was launched in May 2024, and we intend to undertake an accessibility audit by May 2025. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 May 2024. 

This website was last tested on 28 May 2024. The test was carried out by our web agency Bray Leino Ltd.

When deciding which pages to include in our testing, we considered our most visited pages, important user journeys, templates and pages that had difficult functionality, such as sliders, search tools and galleries.