The full accessibility statement for Family Restore Ltd, covering this website and the practice itself.
Our commitment
Family Restore Ltd wants this website to be usable by as many people as possible, and the practice itself to be usable by anyone who needs it. That includes people who navigate by keyboard, use a screen reader or magnification, need much larger text, cannot use a mouse precisely, find movement on screen disorienting, or are reading while exhausted, distressed or on a borrowed phone.
That last group matters more here than on most websites. People arrive at a therapy site at difficult moments. A site that is hard to use is not merely irritating in that situation — it is another door that does not open.
The standard we work to
This site is built to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2, level AA, the international standard published by the World Wide Web Consortium and the level generally treated as the benchmark in the United Kingdom.
Two points of law are worth being clear about. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 apply to public sector organisations, and this practice is not one, so those regulations do not apply to us. The Equality Act 2010 does apply: as a provider of a service to the public we have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so that a disabled person is not put at a substantial disadvantage.
We have chosen to publish a full statement anyway, in the format a public body would use, because we would rather be measured against the higher expectation.
How conformant this site is
This website is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 level AA. Partially conformant means that most of the standard is met, and that we know of specific areas which are not yet verified. Those are listed under known limitations below rather than left for you to discover.
We have not claimed full conformance, because full conformance is a claim that ought to be backed by an independent audit, and no independent audit has yet been carried out.
What has been done
These are decisions taken while building the site, not adjustments bolted on afterwards.
Structure and semantics
- Every page has a single h1 and a heading order that never skips a level, so the outline works as a table of contents in a screen reader.
- Landmarks are real: a header, a labelled navigation, a main region with an id, and a footer. Every set of links is a genuine list.
- Tables carry column and row headers with the correct scope, so a cell is announced with the row it belongs to.
- The page language is declared as British English, which is what tells a screen reader how to pronounce it.
Keyboard and focus
- Everything interactive is a real button or a real link. There are no clickable div elements and no controls that only respond to a mouse.
- A skip link is the first thing the keyboard reaches on every page.
- The focus outline is high-contrast, offset from the element, present on every background, and never removed.
- Focus order follows the reading order, because the reading order is the source order.
Reading and seeing
- Every text and background pair in the design system has a documented contrast ratio, all above the AA threshold. The measurements are in the table further up this page.
- Long-form text is limited to roughly 68 characters a line, which is the point beyond which readers begin to lose their place on the return sweep.
- Type is sized in relative units throughout, so browser and system text-size settings are respected rather than overridden.
- Colour is never the only way meaning is conveyed.
Interaction
- Expandable sections use the browser’s own disclosure element, which means correct announcements, keyboard operation and — usefully — that browser find-in-page can search inside a collapsed section.
- Touch targets are at least 48 pixels tall, double the WCAG 2.2 minimum of 24.
- Nothing depends on a hover, a drag, a swipe, a pinch or a multi-finger gesture.
- The site is built so that its content works with JavaScript unavailable.
Motion, animation and reduced motion
Movement on a screen is not a neutral decoration. It can trigger nausea, dizziness and migraine in people with vestibular conditions, and it is a genuine problem for some people experiencing anxiety — a significant proportion of the people this site is written for.
So:
- Reduced motion is honoured site-wide. If your operating system or browser is set to reduce motion, a single global rule reduces every animation and transition on this site to effectively nothing, and switches smooth scrolling off. It is not applied component by component, so it cannot be forgotten on one page.
- Nothing plays automatically. There is no video, no carousel, no auto-advancing content and no background motion.
- The entrance animations that do exist are a short fade and a small upward drift, tied to scroll position, and they never move anything you are trying to read or click.
- Nothing flashes. There is no content on this site that flashes more than three times in any one-second period.
- Animation is limited to opacity and transform, which keeps it smooth and stops it from shifting the layout underneath you.
You can turn motion down in your own settings: on Windows, Settings, Accessibility, Visual effects; on macOS and iOS, Settings, Accessibility, Motion; on Android, Settings, Accessibility, Remove animations.
Text size, zoom and reflow
Text can be enlarged to 200% without any loss of content or functionality, which is what WCAG requires. In practice you can go further: at 400% zoom on a 1280-pixel-wide window, equivalent to a 320-pixel-wide phone, the layout reflows into a single column rather than forcing horizontal scrolling.
Where content genuinely cannot reflow — a wide comparison table, for instance — the table scrolls sideways inside its own region, which is labelled and reachable from the keyboard, and the page itself never scrolls sideways.
Pinch-zoom is deliberately left enabled on mobile. Some sites disable it to look tidier; that is an accessibility failure and we have not done it.
Screen readers and other assistive technology
The site is built with the patterns that assistive technology already understands, rather than custom widgets that have to be explained to it with ARIA. Native elements, used correctly, are the most reliable accessibility technology available.
Practically that means:
- the accordion is a details and summary pair, not a scripted imitation;
- navigation is a list of links inside a labelled nav element;
- the breadcrumb on this page and the contents index on each policy are ordered lists, so their position and length are announced;
- ARIA is used sparingly, only where there is no native equivalent, and never to paper over the wrong element.
[record which assistive technologies and browsers have actually been tested, and on what date — do not claim testing that has not happened]
Known limitations
This is the part of an accessibility statement that is usually missing. Here is what we know is not right yet.
- Photography is not in place. Every image on this site is currently a marked placeholder. Descriptive alternative text has been written for each one, but it must be reviewed against the real photograph when it arrives, because alt text that describes the wrong picture is worse than none.
- No independent audit has been carried out. This statement is based on a self-assessment by the people who built the site. That is a real limitation, and it is why we claim partial rather than full conformance.
- Testing with assistive technology is not yet documented. Until it is, treat every claim above as engineering intent verified by inspection rather than by use.
- The sticky header needs checking against WCAG 2.2. Success criterion 2.4.11 requires that a focused element is not entirely hidden by other content. A header that stays at the top of the screen can obscure an element focused by an in-page jump, and we are verifying this.
- These policy pages are long. A plain-English summary sits at the top of each one and the contents index lets you jump straight to a clause, but the underlying documents are unavoidably dense. If you would rather have a particular section explained, ask and we will explain it.
- Third-party pages are outside our control. There are none at present. If online payment is introduced, the payment provider’s own pages will not be ours to fix, and we will say so here and offer another way to pay.
If you find something that is not on this list, please tell us. It belongs here.
Getting to us, and being in the room
A website is only the first door. The building and the way sessions are run matter more.
- Step-free access: [confirm whether the consulting room is step-free, and describe the approach honestly, including any steps, thresholds or narrow doors]
- Parking and public transport: [confirm parking arrangements, the nearest accessible bus stop and the walking distance from Chelmsford station]
- Toilet: [confirm whether an accessible WC is available]
- Hearing support: [confirm whether a hearing loop is fitted; if not, say so]
- Assistance dogs: [confirm assistance dogs are welcome — they must be, under the Equality Act 2010]
- Sensory environment: the room is quiet, lit by daylight where possible, and free of strong fragrance. Tell us if lighting, sound or scent is a problem and we will change what we can.
We would much rather be asked in advance than have you arrive and find out. There is no wrong question.
Reasonable adjustments to the work itself
The Equality Act duty is not only about buildings. Adjustments we regularly make, or will discuss, include:
- sessions online or by telephone instead of in person;
- correspondence in large print, in plain text without formatting, or on paper;
- a short written summary after a session, where processing spoken information is tiring;
- extra time at the start or end, or a break in the middle of a longer appointment;
- a supporter, advocate or interpreter present — including a British Sign Language interpreter, which we would arrange with you [confirm interpreter arrangements and who bears the cost];
- arriving and leaving without small talk, or waiting somewhere other than a waiting area;
- reminders by the channel that actually works for you, at the interval that helps.
You do not need a diagnosis, a letter or evidence to ask for any of this.
Getting this content another way
Anything on this website can be provided in another form. That includes the policy documents, which are long by necessity.
Ask us for:
- a large-print copy on paper;
- a plain-text email version with no formatting or images;
- a short spoken explanation over the telephone, which is often the fastest option;
- a simplified summary of a specific section.
We will send it within 20 working days, usually much sooner, and there is no charge.
Reporting a problem
If something on this site stopped you doing what you came to do, please tell us. It is genuinely useful, and it is the only way some problems get found.
Email or telephone using the details at the foot of this page. If you can, tell us:
- the address of the page, or its title;
- what you were trying to do;
- what happened, or did not happen;
- the browser and device you were using, and any assistive technology — helpful, but never required.
We will acknowledge within 5 working days and respond fully within 20. Where a fix will take longer, we will tell you when to expect it and get you the content another way in the meantime.
If you are not satisfied with our response
Use our complaints procedure, which sets out the timescales and the escalation route.
For advice about your rights under the Equality Act 2010, the Equality Advisory and Support Service gives free, independent, confidential advice to people who believe they have been discriminated against:
- Telephone: 0808 800 0082
- Website: equalityadvisoryservice.com
If your concern is about how your personal information was handled rather than about access, our privacy notice explains the route to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Technical information
This website is built with standards-based HTML, CSS and a small amount of JavaScript. Its accessibility relies on the following being supported by your browser:
- HTML, including native form controls and the disclosure element;
- CSS, including custom properties, container-relative units and reduced-motion media queries;
- WAI-ARIA where a native element does not exist for the job.
Content is delivered entirely from this domain. No third-party script, font, frame or tracker is loaded on any page, which removes a common source of accessibility regressions that a site owner cannot control.
How this statement was prepared
This statement was prepared on the date shown at the top of the page, based on a self-assessment carried out by the team that built the site. The assessment covered every page template against the WCAG 2.2 level AA success criteria, and included keyboard-only navigation, contrast measurement of every colour pair in the design system, zoom and reflow testing, and review of the markup structure.
[add the date and detail of any testing carried out with assistive technology, and of any independent audit]
The statement is reviewed at least once a year, and whenever a significant change is made to the site. It will be corrected promptly if any claim in it turns out not to be true.
