Accessibility Statement

Counselling should be within reach of everyone, and so should the website that introduces it. We want this site to be straightforward to use however you browse, with a keyboard, a screen reader, voice control, a magnifier, or simply a phone in one hand on the bus. This statement explains what we've done, what we're still working on, and how to tell us if something gets in your way.

Something hard to use? Please tell us. It helps us fix it for you and for the next person. You can reach us through our contact page, or email lydia@gowellservices.co.uk. If you can, say which page you were on and what went wrong.

1. The standard we aim for

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA, the internationally recognised benchmark for accessible websites, and the level UK organisations are generally expected to reach. We treat AA as the floor, not the finish line.

2. How we've built the site

Accessibility is built into how the site is made, not bolted on afterwards. In particular:

• It works without scripts. The content, navigation and links all function with JavaScript switched off; nothing essential is hidden behind animation or interaction.
• Clear, readable colour. Body text, links, buttons and muted text were all checked against their backgrounds and meet the WCAG AA contrast ratio (at least 4.5:1 for normal text).
• Keyboard friendly. You can reach and use every link, button and form control with the keyboard alone, and there's a "Skip to content" link so keyboard and screen-reader users can jump past the menu.
• Visible focus. Whatever you're focused on gets a clear outline, so you never lose your place when tabbing through a page.
• Respects "reduce motion". If your device is set to reduce motion, the gentle fade-in and hover animations are switched off automatically.
• Proper structure. Pages use real headings in order, landmark regions (header, main content, footer), and descriptive link text, the things screen readers rely on.
• Labelled forms. Form fields have visible labels, and errors are described in text rather than by colour alone.
• Scales and reflows. The layout adapts to your screen and stays usable when text is enlarged or the page is zoomed.
• Meaningful images carry alternative text; images that are purely decorative are hidden from screen readers so they don't add clutter.

3. How we know

For this statement we carried out our own review of the site's colour contrast, keyboard operation, focus visibility, motion settings and page structure, and fixed the issues we found. This is a self-assessment by the people who build the site; it is not (yet) an independent audit. We think that's an honest thing to say, and we'd rather tell you than imply more certainty than we have.

4. Things we're still checking

We want to be straight about the limits of where we've got to:

• We haven't yet completed a full test with a range of assistive technologies (for example screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS or VoiceOver) on real devices, and we'll publish the results here once that pass is done.
• We haven't commissioned an independent accessibility audit. We may do so before any wider launch.
• Some elements may rely on third-party services (such as web-font hosting or, in future, an online booking tool). We aim to choose accessible providers, but we don't control everything they do.
• This is a review draft: the site is still in preparation and not yet publicly listed, so some content and contact details are placeholders.

If you find something we've missed, please let us know. Real-world feedback is the most useful test there is.

5. Telling us about a problem

If any part of this website is difficult to use, or you need information in a different format (for example large print or plain text instead of a form), please contact us:

1. Through our contact page, or by emailing lydia@gowellservices.co.uk.
2. Tell us which page caused the problem (the web address helps), and what happened.
3. Let us know the format you'd prefer, if that's the issue.

We'll acknowledge your message, usually within two working days, and do our best to put things right or get you the information another way.

6. If you're not happy with our response

We'll always try to resolve accessibility problems directly. If you've contacted us and you're not satisfied with how we've responded, you can raise the matter with the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), which advises on rights under the Equality Act 2010.

7. Related policies

This statement sits alongside our privacy policy, terms, editorial policy and corrections policy.

How this page was prepared. This accessibility statement was drafted with AI assistance, based on a hands-on accessibility review of the site, and is provided for Lydia's review. Please confirm the accessibility contact email and the acknowledgement timeframe, and add the assistive-technology test results, before launch.