♿ Accessibility

Accessible by design

SupaWaste is built to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA across both the resident-facing bin day widget and the authority portal. Accessibility is a requirement — not an afterthought — especially for services used by the public.

Our commitment

Our commitment to accessibility

SupaWaste is a service used by residents across England — including people with visual impairments, motor difficulties, cognitive disabilities, and those using assistive technology. We take that responsibility seriously.

We target WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance across all public-facing and staff-facing products. This page documents our current status, what we've built, and where we're still working to improve.

Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018: Local authority websites embedding our resident widget must meet the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations. Our widget is designed to support this — including font size options to meet authority-specific requirements.


WCAG 2.1 status

WCAG 2.1 AA compliance status

The table below reflects our current status against the four WCAG 2.1 principles. We update this as improvements are made.

PrincipleDescriptionStatus
PerceivableInformation and UI components are presentable in ways users can perceiveMet
OperableUI components and navigation are operable via keyboard and assistive technologyMet
UnderstandableInformation and operation of the UI is understandableMet
RobustContent can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents and assistive technologiesIn progress

Resident widget

Resident-facing bin day widget

The embeddable resident widget — used by the public on authority websites — has been designed with accessibility as a primary requirement, not a secondary consideration.

🔤
Font size options
Three sizes available: Default, Large, and X-Large. Authorities choose the size that best suits their website template and user base.
⌨️
Keyboard navigable
All interactive elements are reachable and operable via keyboard alone, with visible focus indicators throughout.
🎨
Colour contrast
All text meets WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratios. Colour is never used as the sole means of conveying information.
📢
Screen reader support
Semantic HTML with appropriate ARIA labels. Tested with NVDA and VoiceOver. Results are announced clearly to screen reader users.
📱
Responsive layout
Widget adapts cleanly to any viewport — from mobile to large desktop. No horizontal scrolling on any supported size.
🚫
No motion
No animations or motion effects in the resident widget. Safe for users with vestibular disorders.

Authority portal

Authority portal

The portal used by authority waste and comms teams is designed to be usable with keyboard navigation, screen readers, and browser zoom up to 200% without loss of functionality.

  • All form fields have visible, associated labels
  • Error messages are descriptive and linked to the relevant field
  • All interactive elements have visible focus states
  • Page structure uses semantic HTML landmarks (main, nav, header, footer)
  • Tables include proper scope attributes for column and row headers
  • Modal dialogs trap focus correctly and return focus on close
  • Colour contrast meets AA ratios across all text and UI elements

Known issues

Known issues & in-progress work

We believe in transparency. The following issues have been identified and are being actively worked on:

  • Some complex data tables in the portal do not yet have full ARIA descriptions for screen reader users — fix targeted for Q2 2025
  • The drag-and-drop interface for reordering waste types does not yet have a keyboard-accessible alternative — alternative interaction planned for Q2 2025

If you identify an accessibility issue not listed here, please report it using the contact details below.


Feedback

Accessibility feedback & enforcement

If you experience an accessibility barrier using any SupaWaste product, we want to hear about it. We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within 5 working days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations in England.

Report an accessibility issue

Tell us what you were trying to do, what went wrong, and which product or page you were using. We'll investigate and respond within 5 working days.