Accessibility statement

Updated 25 November 2025

Contents of this statement

  1. Accessibility statement for the UK Debt Quality website
  2. Alternative formats and contact information
  3. Technical information about this website’s accessibility
  4. Non-accessible content
  5. What we’re doing to improve accessibility
  6. Preparation of this accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for the UK Debt Quality website

This accessibility statement applies to the domain debtquality.org.uk.

This website is run by the Money and Pensions Service. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to do the following:

  • 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)
  • access the site on smaller devices

We’ve also made the website text as simple to understand as we can.

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:

  • Some of the alternative text is missing or inadequate.
  • The hamburger menu on mobile provides no way for screen reader users to understand the functionality and whether or not the drop-down menu is expanded or collapsed.
  • Several landmarks have little or no description, and some form elements are missing meaningful labels.
  • The heading structure is inconsistent in places, sometimes skipping heading levels.
  • Some elements have inadequate colour contrast and are hard to make out. Others are identified by colour alone.
  • Redundant links cause the screen reader to be unnecessarily chatty.
  • You cannot access parts of the content properly via the keyboard, including the mobile menu and skipping repeating blocks.
  • The focus order does not always make sense to screen reader users.
  • Some links have vague or redundant names.
  • When navigating via keyboard, you may not be informed of when some elements have received focus.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille, feel free to contact us:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within two days.

You can find more details on our contact us page.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that we haven’t listed on this page, or if you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us an email in which you describe the problem and tell us which page you were using when it happened. Send this email to accessiblity@maps.org.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).

Alternative formats and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille, please contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance status

These websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images and buttons have inadequate or missing alternative text, causing people using a screen reader to be unable to access the information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content, Level A).

The hamburger menu on mobile provides no way for screen reader users to understand the functionality and whether or not the drop-down menu is expanded or collapsed. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content, Level A).

Several landmarks have little or no description, and some form elements are missing meaningful labels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships, Level A).

The heading structure is inconsistent in places, sometimes skipping heading levels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships, Level A) and WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and labels, Level AA).

Some links are identified by colour alone. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour, Level A).

Some elements have inadequate colour contrast, so some people may be unable to read or understand them. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum), Level AA).

Redundant links appear throughout pages due to repetition of text in images with text on page, causing the screen reader to be unnecessarily chatty. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text, Level AA).

Some of the content cannot be accessed properly via the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard, Level A).

The site provides no option to skip repeating blocks using the keyboard or a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks, Level A).

The focus order does not always make sense to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order, Level A).

Some links have vague or redundant names. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (in context), Level A).

With keyboard navigation, some elements do not highlight when they receive focus. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus State, Level AA).

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

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. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages in the updated version of the website in the new Content Management System.

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. For example, we do not plan to fix the DRO Unit improvement project slide deck. 

Any new PDF or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. Before publishing new content as a PDF or Word document, we will make sure that the alternative format is necessary, as advised by GDS.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

These websites underwent a full third-party accessibility audit in September-October 2020. This accessibility statement has been updated to incorporate the results of that audit.

We are rebuilding this website and plan to launch the new version in 2026.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 25 November 2025.

This website was last tested on 28 October 2020. The test was carried out by Sigma Consulting Solutions Ltd.

The pages to test were chosen on the basis of the following user journeys:

  1. Acting as a debt advisor supervisor
  2. Find information on Income Maximisation
  3. Contact advisors about best practice
  4. An extra random sample of pages, as guided by the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) document (www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/conformance/wcag-em)

The testing assessed the following pages:

  • Home
  • MaPS Debt Advice Quality Framework – Organisational Framework
  • Learning Pathway Hub
  • Good Practice Toolkit
  • Debt Advice Peer Assessment (DAPA)
  • Reducing missed appointments using behavioural science
  • Maximising Income

Testing used the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 levels A and AA to determine how accessible the selected pages are.