Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to the Housing Executive website.

We want this website to be easily navigated and understood by all of our users, whatever their device or browser.

We have tried to make the website text accurate, understandable and easy to read.

This website is run by the Housing Executive. 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 300% 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 understand that some users may need some help to get the most out of the site.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

You can read more at:

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:

We will consider your request and get back to you within 7 days.

You can view a map of our local offices at:

If you cannot view this map, call or email us for directions. Contact details are available in our section on:

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us:

Or you can make a complaint online:

Enforcement procedure

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations') in Northern Ireland.

If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the:

How accessible this website is

Non-accessible content

We know all parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • some content is difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

  • some text is hard to read due to poor contrast between the text and background colours

  • some content is not visible when text is magnified / enlarged

  • some content is hard to understand

  • some link text may not make sense

  • some pages are missing headings

  • some images do not have a text alternative

  • some older PDF documents are not compatible with screen reader software

  • some online forms are not accessible

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The Housing Executive is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA (WCAG 2.1) standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

Navigation and accessing information

It is difficult to navigate through some pages and content menus using just a keyboard.

When text is enlarged, some content is not visible and navigation becomes difficult using a keyboard.

We anticipate that these issues will be fixed by end 2022.

Issues with text

Some of our text is hard to understand. When we review the content of our pages, we try to simplify the text.

Some of the link text on our web pages does not make sense when read - for example ‘click here’. We will fix these existing links by end 2022.

When we publish new content we will make sure that the:

  • text is easy to understand

  • link text meets accessibility standards

Issues with PDFs

Some PDF documents on our website do not meet accessibility standards and may not be accessible to a screen reader.

Some of these PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs as forms.

We hope to fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

We will complete an assessment to determine the priority that these should be done. We hope to have a priority list compiled by end 2022.

We will try to make any new PDF documents that we publish meet accessibility standards.

Online PDF forms

We are aware of the following issues with some of our online PDF forms

  • some are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

  • some use tables to format content and this means they may not be accessible to screen readers

  • some headings are missing, or not listed correctly

  • some images have missing alternative (alt) text

We intend to review the use of online PDF forms and complete an assessment of web-based forms by the end of March 2023.

Issues with images and video

Our video content is hosted on YouTube. We are aware of the following issues with images and video on our site:

  • our video content’s closed captioning and transcripts are often inaccurate

  • some images have accessibility problems

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. We plan to add text alternatives for all images by the end of March 2022.

When we publish new content we will make sure our images meet accessibility standards.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive tools and transactions may not be accessible. Where we have developed these tools, we will review them and prioritise those to be fixed.

We will complete this by end 2022.

We will complete an assessment of these forms and prioritise those to be fixed by end March 2023.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Older PDFs

We do not have to fix PDFs (or other documents) published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We will review and improve any aspect of our website as required.

We plan to regularly test the website for accessibility.

Additionally, we have considered the following regarding our content creation process:

  • we use Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Pro accessibility checkers to find and fix problems before publication

  • we have made accessibility guidance available on our staff intranet for all staff drafting content for online publication

  • where we commission reports from external bodies, we are examining ways to make WCAG 2.1 standards part of the contract specification

Preparation of this accessibility statement

Our accessibility statement was first published on 25 March 2019 and was last updated on 9 November 2021.

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