Accessibility statement for the website TheCommonwealth.org

This website is run by the Commonwealth Secretariat. We want as many people as possible to be able to use it. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 400% 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)

AbilityNetOpens in a new window has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand and Plain Language Commission has awarded our website a gold Clear English StandardOpens in a new window. This accreditation recognises the work we are doing to improve the way we communicate by using plain English.

How accessible this website is

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

  • some pages and document attachments are not clearly written
  • some pages lack a logical heading structure
  • some tables lack row headers
  • some content has poor colour contrast
  • some images lack good alternative text
  • some error messages in forms are not announced by assistive technology
  • many documents are in PDF and other formats and are not fully accessible
  • live video streams lack captions
  • some dynamic charts are not accessible to assistive technology

Reasonable adjustments 

If you have a physical or mental impairment that impacts how you access our information and services, please get in touch with us and we'll do our best to meet any reasonable adjustments required. If you’d like to discuss in more detail, please contact us.

Accessibility at our building

For more information about accessibility at our building, contact us.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve our website's accessibility. We know it’s important to keep improving so if you read anything that's unclear on our website or you have any trouble using it, please let us know by E-mail us.

Compliance status

This website complies only partly with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1Opens in a new window AA standard, for the reasons listed below.

Content that’s outside 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 2018Opens in a new window if they’re not essential to providing our services. 

Live video

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 January 2021. It was last reviewed on 20 January 2021.

This website was last tested on 20 January 2021.