Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to careerswales.gov.wales, and microsites and applications managed by Careers Wales.

This accessibility statement does not include the Working Wales website which is also managed by Careers Wales. The workingwales.gov.wales domain has its own accessibility statement.

Careers Wales manage the Careers Wales website. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means that you should be able to:

Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
Listen to most of the website using a screen reader
Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
Change colours, contrast levels and fonts

To ensure this is possible we are engaging with external accessibility companies to ensure that the above minimum requirements are met.

We have also made the website text as easy as possible to understand.

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

How accessible this website is

Some parts of the Careers Wales website are not fully accessible. For example:

The share this page button does not indicate if it is expanded or collapsed
The screen reader software does not announce updated results after selecting filter search buttons
The footer is not correctly tagged
Not all buttons are showing as active when clicked
If a menu is expanded, when using the tab key the navigation focus is not trapped
Error and success messages are not always announced on the screen reader software
A minority of PDFs are not fully accessible to screen reader software
Our venues map may not be useable by keyboard and screen reader users

Careers Wales uses a third-party application called Livechat for online webchat services. Live chat is compliant with the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. Visit Livechat for more information.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, for example, an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact us by:

Email post@careerswales.gov.wales
Telephone 0800 028 4844
Webchat
By post to: Web Content Manager, Cardiff Careers Centre, Unit 4, Churchill House, 17 Churchill Way, Cardiff,CF10 2HH

We will consider your request and get back to you within 2 working days.

If you cannot view the map, call us on 0800 028 4844 or email us at post@careerswales.gov.wales and we will provide you with directions. A text alternative to Careers Centres displayed within the map is available on Our Centres.

If you cannot use Live chat please phone us on 0800 028 4844 or email us at post@careerswales.gov.wales.

Visiting us in person

Careers Centres have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter. Our staff also work from a variety of outreach venues. The facilities of these venues will vary and may not include audio induction loops.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We want to continue to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page, please contact:

Web Content Manager, email: information@careerswales.gov.wales

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. If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Careers Wales 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

PDFs and other documents

The following PDFs do not meet accessibility standards:

Careers and work-related experiences toolkit
Careers and work-related experiences toolbox

These PDFs are essential to providing our services. They are provided by a third-party and cannot be edited by Careers Wales. Some of the alt text is not written in full and some headings are not correct. They may not be structured to be accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role value).

If you need to access information in one of these documents, please contact us and ask for an alternative format.

Maps

Venues Map

Our Contact Us page provides an interactive map (Google) to help you locate our centres and outreach venues. When a user tabs across elements on the map, there is no announcement by the screen reader software that a map marker has been selected.

We have provided an alternative text version listing our centres. We are working on a way to make the map accessible or if not possible, an alternative way to list our outreach venues.

Apprenticeship Search map

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

After selecting the hotspot buttons the focus does not trap within the dialogue
The navigation buttons are not labelled correctly
The hotspot buttons are not labelled or read

Development work on Apprenticeship Search Map is due to start in summer 2025.

Careers Wales recruitment microsite

The Careers Wales recruitment micro site has been assessed and fails against a number of WCAG 2.2 Level A and level AA criteria. For full details on how it fails please contact HR enquiries.

If you cannot use the system and would like to apply for an advertised vacancy, please email HR enquiries for an alternative way to apply.

We have informed the third-party provider who developed the recruitment microsite and are awaiting a response on how to deal with the identified issues.

General issues

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

Buttons when pressed are not showing as active
The share this page button does not indicate if it is expanded or collapsed
If the menu is expanded the navigation focus is not trapped
Screen reader software does not announce updated results when updating filter searches
Footers are not correctly tagged

The above issues have been resolved in some areas of the website. Other areas will be resolved by autumn 2025.

Buzz Quiz

The colour contrast ratio fails for the text below the back and next links. The fix for this issue will be released by autumn 2025.

Career Match Quiz

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

The screen reader software focus does not remain on the expandable and collapsible links after clicked
When navigating on the tabs the focus shifts to the top of the page instead of remaining on the same tab
After clearing the filters a message is required for the screen reader software announcing that the filters have been cleared
The rate your skills button does not have the correct role of button

Development work to resolve these issues has started and is due for completion autumn 2025.

Job Ideas Quiz

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

The focus does not shift back to the Take the quiz button after selecting the close button
The focus does not shift back to the question text that has the error after selecting the error links.

Development work to resolve these issues has started and is due for completion autumn 2025.

Who am I? Quiz

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

Focus does not shift automatically to the active step as soon as user selects Next and Back buttons
The tab and arrow keys focus does not shift automatically to respective content as soon as user select same page links

Development work on Who Am I? Quiz is due to start in summer 2025.

Course Search

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

The role link for the logo is read twice while navigating using arrow keys
The Sign in button reads as both "link" and "button"
The share this page button reads the collapsed buttons without expanding it when navigating using the arrow keys
On the results page the "checked/unchecked" state for the checkboxes while navigating using tab key is not announced
On the results page the elements are not reading left to right for Sort by and Results per page
The "List View" and "Map" tabs are reading incorrectly
On the results page the focus shifts to top of the page as soon as user selects same page links

Development work on Course Search is due to start in summer 2025.

About Jobs

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

Incorrect reading order while navigating using arrow keys
Descriptive and unique text is required for read more links

Development work on About Jobs is due to start in summer 2025.

Support Finder

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

The link text of the Back and Next links is read incorrectly
On the Support Offered section when selecting a "checked" state, the focus shifts to top of the page instead of shifting back to the checkbox
On the Results section "Remove Programme/Remove from my profile" does not announce automatically as soon as user selects "Select Programme/Select to my Profile" button
Error message is not announced automatically as soon as it appears on the page
The tab focus does not shift back to the selected tab when selected

Development work on Support Finder is due to start in summer 2025.

Decision Making Quiz

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using screen reader software:

Null alt text is missing for the banner image
The focus does not shift to the respective content as soon as user selects same page links
List items are being read incorrectly
Error messages are not being announced automatically as soon as they appear on the page

The 2024-2025 audit identified the following non-compliance when using keyboard only:

The tab focus does not move to radio buttons

Development work on Decision Making Quiz is due to start in summer 2025.

Content that is 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 if they are not essential to providing our services.

The PDFs created before 23 September 2018 are:

Our statutory accounts (2016, 2017 and 2018)

If you need to access information in one of these document types, please contact us and ask for an alternative format.

Live video

Live video streams are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We will review what is possible for each live stream based on the technology/software used.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We are actively working to resolve the identified issues, and most are in development or due to start development soon. We aim to have issues resolved by the end of 2025.

We are working with developers to achieve full compliance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standards.

We have built in new guidelines for PDFs and videos to ensure that future videos, PDFs and other documents will be fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2.

We are working with external accessibility companies to have a full site assessment and working with them on a consultative basis over future developments.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10th February 2020. It was last reviewed on 30 July 2025.

Accessibility testing for Careers Wales has been undertaken as follows:

2024 / 2025 by Thornacre – full site assessment in batches over the year, including reassessment of resolved issues, and new or updated applications
2023 / 2024 by Little Forest – Future Jobs Wales and the Careers Wales recruitment microsite
2022 / 2023 by Little Forest and Zoonou– Education Business Exchange, Career Match Quiz and Course Search, Sign-in and Profile
2020 / 2021 by Shaw Trust Accessibility Services – full site assessment

Development work is ongoing and this accessibility statement will be updated as issues are resolved.

We used this approach to decide on a sample of pages for testing:

Testing methodology

Our latest accessibility assessment included:

Screen reader testing with JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack
Keyboard navigation testing
High contrast and colour contrast analysis
Browser zoom compatibility testing
Testing across multiple devices and platforms

We use Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel to assess accessibility of documents available for download on our website.