Accessibility

We aim for WCAG 2.2 AA on towpath.digital. This statement says what we have actually tested, when we last tested it, and what we know is still wrong. We would rather name a real gap than publish a clean-looking promise.

What we test, and how

Semantic HTML with one h1 and no skipped heading levels; a skip link and a visible focus ring on every interactive element; keyboard order that matches the reading order; colour contrast measured from computed styles rather than judged by eye; animation that stops under prefers-reduced-motion; and layout checked at 390px wide for horizontal overflow and tap-target size. The site uses no bitmap images at all, so there is no alt-text debt to carry.

Last tested

30 August 2026, by hand, across all 23 pages of this site. Every text and background pair was measured, heading order and landmark structure were checked page by page, and each page was rendered at both 1440px and 390px.

What that test found, and what we fixed the same day

• Product accent colours were being used as text. The worst pairing measured 1.77:1 against the 4.5:1 the standard requires, on a page's primary call to action. Every text use of a product colour now takes a separate, measured, AA-safe value.
• The comparison-table headings on product pages sat at 3.69:1 and have been darkened.
• The four legal pages carried no site navigation at all. They now use the same header and footer as every other page.
• The animated status dot kept moving for people who ask their device to reduce motion. It stops now.
• Form fields on the contact page were small enough that iOS zoomed the page on focus. They are 16px on small screens.
• The shared header marked "Estate" as the current page on all eleven product pages, which is what a screen reader announced as your location. Removed.

Known gaps, as at 30 August 2026

• Some decorative labels and captions still render below 12px. We are raising the floor.
• Footer link rows sit close together on a small phone and are below the 44px target size.
• No automated accessibility check runs on deploy yet, so this page depends on a manual pass. That is a gap, not a plan.
• This statement covers towpath.digital. Each product site (PayCamp, ServicePay, Central Contacts and the rest) is audited separately and carries its own statement.

Report a problem

If something is hard to use with an assistive tool, please get in touch or email hello@towpath.digital. We aim to reply within five working days, and we will tell you what we are going to do about it.