Accessibility Statement

Our commitment

The London Health Commission publishes evidence-led resources on urban health infrastructure for health-policy professionals, NHS commissioners, public-health practitioners and members of the public across London's boroughs. Accessibility is not an afterthought to that mission — it is part of it. A public resource on how a healthier city is built and equipped is only credible if it can be used by people of every ability, on whatever device or assistive technology they rely on.

We aim to make this website usable for as many people as reasonably possible, and we treat accessibility as an ongoing programme of review rather than a one-off exercise.

Standards we work to

We design and build with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA as our reference standard. This is the level expected of UK public-sector bodies under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, and we hold ourselves to it as a matter of principle as an independent civic resource, irrespective of the precise legal threshold that applies to us.

In practice, working to WCAG 2.1 AA means we aim to ensure that:

• text and background colours meet the minimum contrast ratios, and information is never conveyed by colour alone;
• content reflows cleanly and remains readable when text is enlarged up to 200%, and on small or zoomed screens;
• all functionality is operable with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus indicator and a logical reading and tab order;
• images that carry meaning have descriptive alternative text, and decorative images are marked so that screen readers can skip them;
• headings, lists, links and landmarks use correct, semantic HTML so that assistive technologies can navigate the page structure;
• links and buttons have clear, descriptive labels that make sense out of context;
• the site does not rely on automatically-moving, flashing or time-limited content that could exclude or harm users.

How we test

We combine automated checking with manual review. Automated tooling helps us catch contrast, structure and labelling issues at scale; manual testing — including keyboard-only navigation and review with screen-reader software — covers the things automation cannot reliably judge, such as whether alternative text is genuinely meaningful and whether a page is logical to move through. We review accessibility as part of publishing new content and when we make significant changes to the site's design or templates.

Known limitations

We want to be honest rather than make claims we cannot stand behind. As an evolving editorial resource, some areas may not yet fully meet our target standard. Where third-party embeds, documents, or data visualisations appear, their accessibility can depend in part on the source material, and we may not always be able to remediate them immediately. Where we are aware of a barrier, we work to fix it, and we welcome reports of any we have missed — they directly inform our priorities.

Reporting a barrier

If you encounter a page, feature or document on this site that you cannot access, or that is difficult to use with assistive technology, please tell us. We treat accessibility reports as a priority and aim to acknowledge them promptly. When you contact us it helps to include the web address (URL) of the page concerned, a short description of the problem, and the browser, device or assistive technology you were using — though none of this is required, and any report is welcome.

You can report an accessibility barrier or request information in an alternative format through our contact page. We will consider reasonable requests to provide content in a different format where the standard presentation does not meet your needs.

Continual improvement

Accessibility is part of how we judge whether this resource is doing its job. We will keep reviewing the site, act on the reports we receive, and update this statement as our practice develops. This is consistent with the wider principle behind the London Health Commission's work: that a healthier city is one designed, from the outset, to include everyone.

This statement reflects our current accessibility approach and is reviewed periodically.