Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to Apply for a school based nurseries capital grant.

This website is run by the Department for Education. 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
  • 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)

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:

  • Issue 34: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 33: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 32: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 31: Best practice - Warning
  • Missing association for hint text
  • Issue 29: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 28: Best practice - Warning
  • Zoom overflow issue
  • Conditionally revealed questions issue
  • Generic links issue
  • Issue 24: Best practice - Warning
  • Hint reference issue
  • Issue 22: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 21: Best practice - Warning
  • Accessible name missing
  • Dynamic content - screen reader issue
  • Missing fieldset and legend
  • Issue 17: Best practice - Warning
  • Missing refocus upon error summary display 2
  • Issue 15: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 14: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 13: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 12: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 11: Best practice - Warning
  • Incorrect list markup
  • Issue 8: Best practice - Warning
  • Issue 7: Best practice - Warning
  • Missing refocus upon error summary display 1
  • Issue 5: Best Practice - Warning
  • Loading spinner contrast issue
  • Missing announcement for page loading procedure
  • Issue 2: Best practice - Warning

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:

Email: SchoolBasedNurseries.ACCESSIBILITY@education.gov.uk

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, you can contact us using the following details:

Email: SchoolBasedNurseries.ACCESSIBILITY@education.gov.uk

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

The Department for Education 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 WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) version 2.2 AA standard, due to the following non-compliances (and/or) the following exemptions.

Non-accessible content

The content is non-accessible for the following reason(s):

  • Issue 34: Best practice - Warning: Location: What will be the holiday opening hours of the nursery provision?

Severity: Low

When date fields are missed, all inputs are given the error styling. The link from the error summary also does not take users directly to the errored field. In the example the month input was not completed, but the link takes users to the day input

Recommendation: Only style the field which has errored. Also ensure that when the link in the error summary is selected, that the focus is taken to the first input which has the error.

  • Issue 33: Best practice - Warning: Location: What will be the holiday opening hours of the nursery provision?

Severity: Medium

The validation and requirements for the inputs on this page are quite strict. Users are forced to use the 24-hour format but colons, not using a decimal, or spaces are also not accepted.

This could make it difficult for some users to complete the form, strict validation can impact users with cognitive disabilities.

Recommendation: Allow more flexible backend validation to make the frontend experience have less friction for users.

  • Issue 32: Best practice - Warning: Location: Your new nursery capacity

Severity: Low

The content used to explain the requirements for this page are quite lengthy and could be confusing.

For users with cognitive disabilities or users who are busy, or stressed, this content could present a high cognitive load and make it difficult to complete this page.

Recommendation: A content designer may be able to provide insight into how this content could be reworded or shortened to reduce the cognitive load.

  • Issue 31: Best practice - Warning: Location: Breakdown of project costs

Severity: Medium

The inputs on this page do not provide screen reader users with the context of what type of input is required. Due to the prefix and suffix having the aria-hidden attribute, they are not provided to screen reader users.

Screen reader users may be unaware of the type of information required to complete these inputs. This could cause incorrect amounts to be entered.

Recommendation: Provide the required input type for each input within the label or hint text. I.e. ‘Total indoor area size in meters squared’ and ‘Building works in pounds’. This is required for all inputs on this page.

  • Missing association for hint text: Location: Breakdown of project costs

Severity: Medium

The hint text for the ‘Abnormal items’ input is not associated with the input.

When screen reader users tab into the input the hint text is not read out to them, this could mean missing out on important information required to understand the requirements of this input.

Recommendation: Add an aria-describedby attribute and reference the ID of the hint text (abnormal-items-hint). (WCAG: 1.3.1)

  • Issue 29: Best practice - Warning: Location: How much DfE Capital Grant funding are you applying for

Severity: Low

The question for this page does not tell users what format to enter the amount in.

The pound sign prefix used for the input is visible for sighted users, but it uses the aria-hidden attribute which hides it from screen readers. This means that questions or hint text must tell screen reader users which format to enter the data.

Recommendation: Amend the question to read ‘How much DfE Capital Grant funding are you applying for in pounds?’ or amend the hint text to ‘Enter the full amount in pounds’.

  • Issue 28: Best practice - Warning: Location: How much DfE Capital Grant funding are you applying for

Severity: Medium

When entering a number which contains a space or a comma, the input does not recognise it is a number which can be validated.

Some users will use commas and spaces when typing numbers. Users who use dragon, which is a speech recognition tool, often pause when dictating numbers which causes the tool to enter spaces.

Recommendation: Ensure that validation accepts numbers and spaces as these are both legitimate ways to enter numbers.

  • Zoom overflow issue: Location: Your uploaded Local Authority Approval Form files

Severity: High

When viewing the page at a high level of browser zoom such as 400%, or viewing the page on a smaller viewport, the name of the file and the rest of the table contents are pushed off the screen and are no longer visible.

Users who have low vision, or a visual impairment rely on larger browser zoom to be able to read content. This could also effect users who are using the service on a device with a smaller viewport such as an iPad or phone.

Recommendation: Ensure that the page content reflows to allow content to be always visible on all viewports and when using high levels of zoom up to 400%. (WCAG: 1.4.10)

  • Conditionally revealed questions issue: Location: Which sources of information have you used to assess the local need for early years childcare?

Severity: High

The conditionally revealed questions within the checkboxes do not contain all of the aria attributes required to make them accessible for screen reader users.

Screen reader users would be unaware that a further question has appeared below when selecting this checkbox, they may therefore miss out on this question and trigger and error on the page unnecessarily.

Recommendation: Add an aria-expanded attribute which updates to =”true” or =”false” depending on the checked or unchecked status of the checkbox. Also add an ID to the <div> containing the conditionally revealed question, then add the aria-controls attribute to the checkbox which references the ID of the <div>. (WCAG: 4.1.2)

  • Generic links issue: Location: Your uploaded floor and site plans

Severity: Medium

When multiple files are uploaded, the delete links are not unique and do not provide context on which file will be deleted.

Screen reader users may accidentally delete the wrong file due to not having the context on which file the delete link relates to.

Recommendation: Add a span which contains the name of the file the delete link relates to and use the gov-visually-hidden class to hide this visually but still be available to screen reader users. (WCAG: 2.4.4)

  • Issue 24: Best practice - Warning: Location: Upload floor and site plans

Severity: Medium

If the incorrect file type is uploaded, the error message contains the full name of the file which the user has attempted to upload.

File names can often be very long, when this error message is read out to a screen reader user it could be very verbose.

Recommendation: Change the error message so that it does not include the file name, but just tells users ‘The selected file must be a PDF’.

  • Hint reference issue: Location: Upload floor and site plans

Severity: Medium

The upload file component uses an aria-described by attribute which references an ID which does not exist.

Screen reader users may be missing out on content which should be associated with the component.

Recommendation: Ensure that the referenced hint has the ID which has been referenced within the aria-describedby attribute. (WCAG: 4.1.2)

  • Issue 22: Best practice - Warning: Location: Project timeline information

Severity: Medium

The date inputs do not allow written months to be validated.

Some users enter dates in different way, validation should be flexible to allow different types of entries.

Recommendation: Ensure date inputs can be entered in anyway a user may prefer to enter data.

  • Issue 21: Best practice - Warning: Location: Conflicts of interest

Severity: Medium

When using the link in the error summary, the users focus is not taken directly into the input, it requires an additional keyboard tab for users to be taken into the input.

This would be frustrating for keyboard only users as it requires more navigation. Screen reader users may be confused as to why they haven’t been taken directly into the input which has triggered the error.

Recommendation: Ensure that when the link within the error summary is clicked or selected with the keyboard, users focus is taken directly into the input.

Note* - This issue seems to occur across all question pages, ensure the remediation is applied to all pages where error messages can be triggered.

  • Accessible name missing: Location: Conflicts of interest

Severity: High

The text area does not have an accessible name. The label and hint text have not been associated with the input.

Screen reader users navigating to this input would not know what they need to enter within the input.

Recommendation: Use the label for=”” attribute on the label (h1) and associate it with the ID of the text area. Also use the aria-described by attribute on the text aria and reference the ID of the paragraph used for the hint text. ID’s will have to be provided to the H1 used as the label and the paragraph used for the hint text as they do not currently have ID’s.

NOTE* - This seems to be inconsistent across textarea components. Some have the label and hint text associated, whereas others don’t, some have just the legend associated and not the hint text. Ensure all textareas have the legend and hint text associated with the input. (WCAG: 4.1.2)

  • Dynamic content - screen reader issue: Location: Nursery capacity for academic year 2025 to 2026

Severity: Medium

This question page uses content which updates as users updates the number of children within each age bracket. As this number updates the total is not relayed to screen reader users.

Screen reader users would be unaware of the visual change which is happening on the page.

Recommendation: Add the aria-live=”polite” and aria-atomic=”true” attributes to the <div> which contains the <label> and <p> elements. This will update screen reader users with the total number of children when any change is made to the number of children inputs. (WCAG: 4.1.3)

  • Missing fieldset and legend: Location: Nursery capacity for academic year 2025 to 2026

Severity: Medium

A fieldset and legend has not been used to group the multiple questions on this page.

Screen reader users rely on fieldsets and legends to understand the relationship between multiple questions.

Recommendation: Add a fieldset and legend. The govuk-fieldset__legend styles could also be used to style the labels.

A black rectangles with white text

AI-generated content may be incorrect. (WCAG: 1.3.1)

  • Issue 17: Best practice - Warning: Location: Provide bid coordinator details for the application

Severity: Low

Type=”tel” has not been used on the phone number input.

This would therefore not provide the number screen for users when using the service on a mobile device. This can make it more difficult for users with cognitive disabilities to understand the required input, and can also be more difficult for users with reduced mobility.

Recommendation: Add type=”tel” to the input.

  • Missing refocus upon error summary display 2: Location: Are you the bid coordinator for this application?

Severity: High

When the question triggers an error, the users is not taken to the error summary, it continues to move down the page into the footer links.

Screen reader users may not be aware that an error has been triggered and would also have to navigate back through the page to get up to the error summary. This would also be an issue for users navigating using on the keyboard.

Recommendation: Ensure that the users focus is managed and is taken up to the error summary when an error is triggered.

NOTE* - This seems to occur across all question pages, ensure that the fix for this issue is replicated across all question pages. There were also loading spinners for many of the questions when selecting ‘save and continue’ ensure that the issues raised against the loading indicators are replicated across all question pages. (WCAG: 2.4.3)

  • Issue 15: Best practice - Warning: Location: Apply for a school-based nurseries capital grant

Severity: Low

A title attribute has been used for the links within the breadcrumb menu. This is not usual practice and is not required. The link would already get its accessible name from the link contents. The title attribute also provides a label when mouse hovered, this is not something that is usually used across gov services and is not the way the design system advises to create a breadcrumb.

Recommendation: Remove the title attribute and allow the accessible name to be provided by the link contents.

  • Issue 14: Best practice - Warning: Location: Apply for a school-based nurseries capital grant

Severity: Low

Heading levels have been skipped on this page. The second heading which tells users how many sections they have completed is a heading level 3, the sections are then heading level 2’s.

This does not follow a logical order and could be confusing for users. Screen reader users rely on logical heading structures to understand the structure and flow of pages and content.

Recommendation: Change the sections completed heading to a heading level 2, the sections could then be changed to heading level 3s.

  • Issue 13: Best practice - Warning: Location: Apply for a school-based nurseries capital grant

Severity: Low

The H1 for this page is the same as the service name. This means that the page title for this page is repeated.

This is repetitive for a screen reader user and is not required.

Recommendation: Remove one part of the page title, the second part of the page title could be changed to ‘Department for Education’ and replace the additional ‘Apply for a school-based nurseries capital grant’ content.

  • Issue 12: Best practice - Warning: Location: Before you apply

Severity: Medium

When selecting ‘Start your application’ the page took a long time to load, and the button was given a disabled style. There was not loading indicator to make users aware that the page was taking time to load.

This could be confusing for users, especially screen reader users who cannot see the page. They would not be aware that the page is loading or that the next page has not yet appeared.

Recommendation: Ensure that the service is tested using a slow connection and wherever there are long load times ensure a visual loading indicator is provided and that this is made accessible for screen reader users by using aria-live attributes.

  • Issue 11: Best practice - Warning: Location: Before you apply

Severity: Medium

The ‘Find more information in our guidance’ link opens in a new tab but does not make users aware of the behaviour.

Users can become disorientated when a link they expect to open in their current browser window takes them to a new tab.

Recommendation: Add (opens in a new tab) to the link text for this link.

  • Incorrect list markup: Location: Your organisation

Severity: Low

The incorrect list markup has been used for the numbered list on this page.

Screen reader users rely on the correct markup to understand the content in the same way a sighted user would.

Recommendation: Change the <ul> tag used for this list to a <ol> tag. (WCAG: 1.3.1)

  • Issue 8: Best practice - Warning: Location: Your organisation

Severity: Medium

When an error message is triggered, the ‘Error:’ prefix is not added to the page title.

The page title is the first thing a screen reader user hears when the page loads, so it is helpful for them to understand there is something which requires their attention. It also acts as a fallback in case the error summary is not announced on page load.

Recommendation: Ensure that when an error is present on the page, the page title is prefixed with ‘Error:’

NOTE* - This seems to occur across the whole service for all question pages. Ensure the remediation for this issue is replicated across the service.

  • Issue 7: Best practice - Warning: Location: Your organisation

Severity: Medium

The error messages used for the radio button, does not have the visually hidden span text usually used for error messages.

Providing this visually hidden text provides screen reader users with further context which ensures that they understand that this is an error message. Visually, users would see the additional red text and styling which makes it clear that there is an error associated with the component. As some screen reader users have very low, or no vision, they would not get this context.

Recommendation: Add a span which contains the word ‘error’ and apply the gov-visually-hidden class.

  • Missing refocus upon error summary display 1: Location: Your organisation

Severity: High

If an error is triggered on this page, the users focus is not taken into the error summary.

This means that for screen reader users, they are unaware that the page submission has not been successful. Their focus remains on the continue button and there is no audible notification that an error has occurred on the page.

Recommendation: Manage the users focus so that when an error is triggered, their focus is taken to the heading for the error summary. (WCAG: 2.4.3)

  • Issue 5: Best Practice - Warning: Location: Your organisation

Severity: Low

When disabling JavaScript, the service is no longer usable.

Some users may not have the full use of JavaScript when on slower connections, legacy devices, or choose to turn off JavaScript. They would therefore be unable to use the service.

Recommendation: Use progressive enhancements to ensure that if CSS or JavaScript is disabled the user can still have an equivalent experience.

NOTE* - This occurs on all pages.

  • Loading spinner contrast issue: Location: Your organisation

Severity: Medium

The colour of the border for the loading spinner does not contrast sufficiently with the background colour of the page.

For users with low vision or a visual impairment, it may be difficult to perceive the loading indicator.

Recommendation: Change the foreground colour of the loading spinners border to sufficiently contrast with the background colour. (WCAG: 1.4.3)

  • Missing announcement for page loading procedure: Location: Your organisation

Severity: Medium

When selecting the ‘continue’ button on the ‘Your organisation’ page a loading indicator appears. This loading procedure is not announced to screen reader users.

Screen reader users would be unaware of the page load and would not know why the next page within the service has not yet appeared. This could be especially problematic for users on slow connections or older devices where the page load could take some time. Screen reader users may navigate away from the page or close the page due to not being aware of the page load.

Recommendation: Use the aria-live attribute to tell screen reader users that there is dynamic content on the page. Aria-live=”assertive” should be used on the loading indicator to ensure that screen readers are interrupted to make users aware quickly that the page load is taking place. (WCAG: 3.3.1)

  • Issue 2: Best practice - Warning: Location: Start page

Severity: Medium

All links within the footer on all pages open in a new tab, but do not provide users with this information.

This can be disorientating for users when they aren't aware that links will open in a new tab. People using screen readers or have a cognitive disability may be unaware that they have been taken to a new browser tab.

Recommendation: Amend the behaviour of these links so that they open within the users' current tab, this would be expected behaviour for these types of links.

NOTE* - This occurs across all pages and should be resolved across any relevant pages.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 11 November 2025.

This website was last tested on 28 October 2024. The test was carried out by Internal DfE Accessibility Team. We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test, Internal Audit.

Accessibility statement version: 1