Accessibility statement

Our commitment

directory.lgbt is committed to making this website usable by as many people as possible, including people using a screen reader, screen magnification, speech recognition, or keyboard-only navigation. This statement covers directory.lgbt (every page on this site) — what we already meet, what we know still needs work, and how to report a problem.

How accessible this website is

This site is designed and built to WCAG 2.2 (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) at Level AA, and our automated checks are configured against that bar. WCAG AA is designed to make a site usable with a screen reader, keyboard-only navigation, or screen magnification. So far we have automated-tested the mechanically testable part of that bar across the specific pages and flows listed under "What we check" below — our own manual assistive-technology testing, which covers what a machine cannot judge, is still in progress (see "How we test" below), and some listing text comes from other organisations. We go further than Level AA in two specific, tested places — named below with exactly what was checked, not as a target we're aiming at.

1.4.6 Contrast (Enhanced): body text, links and key on-colour text meet the strictest (AAA) contrast level in both light and dark mode. This is proven for our shared design tokens — it is not an independent, page-by-page scan of every piece of text on the site.

3.1.5 Reading Level: a set of key messages — the wording used in search results, empty states, and help prompts — is checked against a plain-language standard (roughly age 13 reading level). This covers that specific set of messages, not the site's longer descriptive text, which is not held to this same ceiling.

What we check

Our automated tests cover both colour themes, text contrast, headings, labels, forms, links, buttons and common keyboard problems, run across three browser engines. We also check page reflow at small screen widths, text spacing, focus order, target sizes and plain language. We test key tasks such as search, filters, maps and listing pages. A person must still check screen readers, speech control and other assistive technology.

What we're still working on

Here's what we know isn't fully working today — some found by our own automated testing, some simply a known feature of how the site works — listed honestly rather than left for you to discover:

The interactive map's location markers currently don't render on search results, even though the map itself loads — we're investigating why. Every listing is always also available in the ordinary results list, which this doesn't affect — the map is never the only way to reach a listing.

Descriptions supplied by listed organisations may use specialist words or longer sentences. We keep the surrounding controls and guidance in plain language, and we review public submissions before they go live.

On search results with many pages, the "jump to page" number box is smaller than our own accessibility target for touch and pointer tap size on some screens. This mainly affects people using touch or an assistive pointer device. You can still move between pages using the previous/next buttons, which do meet the target, while we widen the jump-to-page box to match.

Reporting an accessibility problem

We're still testing this site, so you may find other problems we haven't listed above. If you have trouble using any part of this website, email [email protected] describing the page and what happened — we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

If you're not happy with our response

directory.lgbt is an independent service, not a public sector body. The accessibility rules for public-sector websites do not apply to us directly, but the Equality Act 2010 still matters. If you are not happy with our response, the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) can advise you about accessibility and equality rights in England, Scotland and Wales.

How we test, and when this statement was last reviewed

We last reviewed this statement on 24 August 2026, after running our automated axe-core and Playwright checks — across both colour themes, three browser engines (chromium, firefox and webkit), and, for the parts a tool can check mechanically, WCAG's AAA-level rules too, across 23 named routes in total (including the home page), plus dedicated checks on search, filter tray, map and listing-page flows. That automated coverage is a statement about what was checked, not a claim that the site meets AAA — see "How accessible this website is" above for the only two AAA-level claims we actually make. We have not yet completed a full pass of the site using a screen reader or other assistive technology; that pass is planned, and this statement will be updated with what it finds once it has run. We review this statement at least once a year, and sooner whenever we make a change that could affect how the site is used.