Accessibility statement

We support accessibility by:

• providing alternate formats
• including accessibility in our policies
• training our staff
• checking our websites for issues, keeping track of issues, and fixing them
• responding positively to complaints
• delivering on the Accessibility Charter
• working to meet the NZ Government Web Accessibility Standard.

Accessibility Charter

MSD is a signatory to the Accessibility Charter. The Accessibility Charter is a commitment to providing accessible information to the public. As part of this commitment, we developed a 5-year programme of work. We have a dedicated team to carry out this work.

Contact us if you need information in alternate formats, such as:

• Easy Read
• New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL)
• Braille
• audio
• large print
• plain text.

In your message, include:

• the web address (URL) of the information you need
• the format you need — for example, Braille.

Contact us if you find accessibility issues on this website. We aim to respond to feedback within 3 business days.

To make a formal complaint, follow the complaints information on the MSD website.

If you make a complaint and you're not satisfied with the response, you can learn about your options from:

• the Human Rights Commission
• the Ombudsman.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for web accessibility. This website aims to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We are progressively working to become fully conformant to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Content that is not accessible

Below are the known accessibility issues. Contact us if you need any of the following information in an alternate format.

• The navigation menu is not fully visible on some mobile devices in landscape mode
• The navigation menu uses ARIA attributes incorrectly
• The navigation menu’s expand button has redundant accessible text
• Some links have no visual indicator that they are links
• Some information is only available as a PDF file which is not accessible
• The Ministry of Social Development logo’s alternative text in the header does not accurately describe the image
• Parts of the HTML are invalid, and does not pass the W3C Validation Service
• The navigation menu’s keyboard focus is not managed according to the WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices
• The breadcrumbs use ARIA attributes incorrectly

This website should work with common browsers and assistive technologies, such as:

• Safari with VoiceOver on iOS
• Chrome with NVDA on Windows
• Chrome with keyboard-only input on Windows.

This website’s accessibility was last checked by MSD on 21 October 2021 by:

• evaluating selected pages against WCAG 2.1 Level AA
• testing selected pages with assistive technologies.

Accessibility and User Experience Team
Ministry of Social Development
Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora