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Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the ‘Find an authorisation document’ service on www.sepa.org.uk

This website is run by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). 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 as most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact  equalities@sepa.org.uk.  If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 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

SEPA is committed to making its websites 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some PDFs and Word documents are not accessible.

  • Some images within word or PDF documents do not have appropriate text alternatives. People using assistive technologies may not be able to access the information. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
  • Some images may contain inappropriate text alternatives. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
  • Some decorative images may contain alternative text. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
  • Some data table rows and columns are not marked up semantically, and this information may not be presented to assistive technologies. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  • Some list elements are not marked up semantically, and this information may not be presented to assistive technologies. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  • Some links are not distinguishable without relying on colour. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (use of colour).
  • Some elements do not have sufficient colour contrast. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)).
  • Zooming is disabled for mobile devices. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text).
  • The dropdown menus cannot be accessed by using a keyboard. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).
  • Some PDF documents do not include titles describing their topic or purpose. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (page titled).
  • Certain links use general link text like ‘Click here’ with no surrounding context as to the purpose or destination of the link. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose).
  • Certain links lack an accessible name. Screen readers won’t read what the link does so will read out the whole URL instead. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose).
  • The default display of the focus indicator is not always visible. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible).
  • Some elements do not have unique IDs, preventing assistive technologies from being able to interact with them. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 (parsing).
  • Some form elements are missing labels, title attributes and/or ARIA references, preventing assistive technologies from being able to interact with them. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
  • Navigational elements are using incorrect ARIA references. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
  • Some of our PDFs and Word documents published before September 2018 are essential to providing our services.

Some forms published before September 2018 are in PDF, Word and Excel and are not accessible. We are working to convert our Microsoft Word and Excel forms into accessible online forms. If any document is found to be inaccessible, please contact registry@sepa.org.uk

Content that’s not within 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 2018, unless users need them to use a service.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 29 February 2024. It was last reviewed on 22 April 2024.

This website was last tested in January 2024 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. SEPA carried out a self-assessment.