Accessibility notice

Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office’s Chevening website

This accessibility statement applies to the Chevening website (www.chevening.org).

This website is run by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office. 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 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • View the browser in a one column format (1280px browser width and Zoom in to 400%)
  • 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.

Accessibility

We know some parts of this website are not currently fully accessible:

  • Some images are missing meaningful alternative text, particularly map markers and hero images.
  • Some interactive elements lack proper ARIA roles, names, or state information for assistive technologies.
  • Some elements have keyboard focus indicators that may not be clearly visible.
  • Content is added to the page after a search has been performed but does not inform people that use a screen reader.
  • The contrast of non-text content did not meet the expected ratio of 1.3:1 where borders on form fields were used.
  • Links are not always descriptive of their intended purpose or destination.
  • Links that open in a new window do not always inform users that this will happen.

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, please email communications@chevening.org. Please put ‘Chevening.org accessibility issue’ as the subject line.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 7 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

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office 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 2.2 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

Following a comprehensive WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility audit of the Chevening website (www.chevening.org) in April 2026, we identified several areas of non-compliance. All Critical severity issues have since been resolved, including keyboard accessibility for map and interactive components (WCAG 2.1.1), form control structure and labelling (WCAG 1.3.1), and missing form labels on comboboxes and textboxes (WCAG 3.3.2). The remaining issues are listed below, organised according to the four WCAG principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.

Perceivable Issues

Issues related to information and user interface components being presentable to users in ways they can perceive:

  • Instances of non-text content missing alternative text, including map marker images, hero images, image maps, and figures across multiple pages (WCAG 1.1.1).
  • Some elements overflow the viewport at 320px equivalent reflow, requiring horizontal scrolling (WCAG 1.4.10).
  • Some elements overflow the viewport at 200% browser zoom (WCAG 1.4.4).
  • Some elements do not meet minimum colour contrast ratio thresholds (WCAG 1.4.3).
  • Some form inputs are missing autocomplete attributes for common input purposes (WCAG 1.3.5).

Operable Issues

Issues related to user interface components and navigation that must be operable:

  • Some elements have keyboard focus indicators that may not be visible due to CSS declarations overriding border or outline styles (WCAG 2.4.7).
  • Some pages are missing a page title (WCAG 2.4.2).
  • Some elements have accessible names that do not match or contain their visible label text (WCAG 2.5.3).
  • 1 instance of hidden content being unreachable via keyboard (WCAG 2.4.3).
  • Some touch targets do not meet the minimum 24px size requirement or lack sufficient spacing (WCAG 2.5.8).
  • Some links have text that may not be sufficiently descriptive of their purpose, or do not inform users when opening a new window (WCAG 2.4.4).
  • Some instances of heading level hierarchy being skipped or pages missing an h1 heading (WCAG 2.4.6).
  • Some navigation or form landmarks lack unique labels, or pages lack a navigation landmark (WCAG 2.4.1).
  • 2 elements require confirmation that they are not obscured when receiving focus (WCAG 2.4.11).

Understandable Issues

Issues related to information and operation of user interface that must be understandable:

  • Some pages are missing a language declaration, causing screen readers to use incorrect pronunciation (WCAG 3.1.1).
  • Some forms may automatically submit on input change without advising the user (WCAG 3.2.2).
  • 2 instances of cognitive function tests (CAPTCHA/puzzle) that may exclude users with cognitive disabilities (WCAG 3.3.8).

Robust Issues

Issues related to content being robust enough to be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents:

  • Some interactive elements have missing or incorrect ARIA names, roles, or values, preventing assistive technologies from conveying their purpose (WCAG 4.1.2). This primarily affects custom dropdown widgets, carousels, and accordion components.

Images

Some images are missing meaningful alternative text, so people using a screen reader cannot understand the purpose of the image. This particularly affects map marker images and hero images across multiple pages.

Forms

Buttons have been used in the mobile hamburger menu that are not labelled so screen reader users may find it difficult to determine its purpose when browsing both in and out of context.

Links

Links are not always descriptive of their intended purpose or destination. This means that people with motion impairment are unable to skip links that they are not interested in, people with cognitive limitations may be disoriented and people with visual disabilities are unable to determine the purpose of a link without leaving the link to explore its context.

Some links that open in a new window do not inform users that this will happen. This means that people can be disorientated when the new window appears. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.5 Change on Request (Level AAA).

What we are doing to improve accessibility

Following the April 2026 audit, we have resolved all Critical severity issues, including:

  • Keyboard accessibility for map interfaces and interactive components that previously could not be operated without a mouse (WCAG 2.1.1).
  • Missing form control structure and label associations (WCAG 1.3.1).
  • Missing labels on form textboxes and comboboxes (WCAG 3.3.2).

We are now working to resolve the remaining High severity issues, with priority given to:

  • Adding meaningful alternative text to all images, particularly map markers and image maps which account for the majority of outstanding issues.
  • Correcting ARIA attributes on custom interactive elements including dropdown widgets, carousels, and accordions to ensure screen readers can convey their purpose and state.
  • Ensuring all elements have a visible keyboard focus indicator.
  • Adding missing page titles and language declarations.
  • Addressing reflow and resize issues to ensure content is accessible at different zoom levels and viewport widths.
  • Reviewing touch target sizes to meet the minimum 24px requirement.

We aim to address all remaining High severity issues by August 2026.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was last reviewed on 18 May 2026 by Thornacre.com, following remediation of Critical severity issues identified in the April 2026 accessibility audit performed by Thornacre.com, which identified issues across 22 WCAG 2.2 criteria.

The audit covered 21 pages across the Chevening website, including:

  • Home page and main navigation paths
  • Scholarships, Fellowships, and Partnerships pages
  • Resource Hub and sub-sections (Alumni groups, Hidden gems, Policies, Events)
  • Application guidance pages (Apply, Are you ready?, Find a course, English language)
  • Toolkit pages (Fellowship Toolkit, Partnerships Toolkit Overview, Partnerships Toolkit Download)
  • Supporting pages (News and blogs, Contact us, Impact report, Our partners)

Testing methodology

Our latest accessibility assessment included:

  • Automated testing using WAVE, SiteImprove, axe-core, Pa11y, ARC Toolkit, IBM Accessibility Insights, ANDI, HeadingsMap, and WebAIM Contrast Checker
  • W3C HTML validation to verify correct HTML structure prior to accessibility testing
  • Screen reader testing with JAWS (Windows), NVDA (Windows), VoiceOver (macOS), and TalkBack (Android)
  • Keyboard-only navigation testing across all pages
  • Colour contrast analysis including complex scenarios
  • Browser zoom testing at 200% and reflow testing at 320px viewport width
  • Testing across multiple operating systems (Windows 11, macOS, iOS, Android) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari)
  • Manual assessment by IAAP certified accessibility specialists

Feedback and contact information

If you have any feedback on the accessibility of our website or require information in an alternative format, please email communications@chevening.org.