The UK’s top on-line banks do better than airlines and newspapers in meeting the basic website accessibility needs of their disabled customers, but still only one of ten tested, NatWest, reached a minimum standard, according to a survey released today by national computing and disability charity, AbilityNet.

The third in a series of quarterly eNation reports on the top websites in selected industry sectors, the survey reveals that, of the nine on-line banks audited and checked for accessibility using a series of both manual checks and automated tools, only www.natwest.co.uk satisfied the minimum criteria required to facilitate access for users with a vision impairment, dyslexia or those with a physical disability making mouse use difficult.

The NatWest site gained a three-star rating on AbilityNet’s five-star scale, whilst www.barclays.co.uk, www.lloydstsb.co.uk, www.smile.co.uk, www.new.egg.com, www.if.com and www.firstdirect.co.uk could only obtain two stars. The remaining sites – www.hsbc.co.uk, www.halifax.co.uk and www.cahoot.co.uk – scored a disappointing one star, designating them ’very inaccessible’.

Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet’s Web Consultancy Manager, himself blind, was, however, not too discouraged by the results: “The on-line banks score significantly higher than the sites tested in our previous surveys focusing on airlines and newspapers, none of which reached minimum accessibility standards.”

“Banks have realised quicker than other service providers perhaps, that the end user is looking for critical functionality – to check their account and make transactions – rather than to be impressed and entertained by ingenious design and creativity.”

Typical problems encountered by Christopherson and his team include the widespread use of pictures as links to other pages. The ‘tool tips’ upon which blind visitors and text browser users rely for spoken descriptions of pictures were often virtually absent. Without these spoken ‘labels’ both the images and the links are invisible and the end user excluded as a result. “Imagine trying to drive to your destination where exits at each junction are left blank”, says Christopherson.

In addition, pictures of text are used instead of actual text. This not only means that the user cannot modify font size or colour contrast – essential for those with a vision impairment or dyslexia – it also prevents screen reader users from reading the content when so often these images also do not carry ‘tool tips’.

“The Internet banking demos offered by at least two thirds of the banks sampled were also completely inaccessible with no alternative offered – a major flaw which must instantly put off significant numbers of prospective customers,” Christopherson added.

Other drawbacks common to several of the sites tested include the reliance on mini programs called JavaScript that are built into a page and often not recognised (and therefore rendered unreadable) by many older browsers, or some specialist browsers used by those with vision impairment. Although not usually critical to the functionality of the site as a whole, it still excludes many users from this content. Unfortunately for several banks in the sample, including Halifax, HSBC, Smile, Egg, If and First Direct, the entire site including the application process for new products depends on JavaScript.

Finally, the text size on most sites has also been ‘hard–coded’ so that it cannot be easily enlarged – so vital for many visitors who have a vision impairment.

With a potential market of 1.6 million registered blind users as well as a further 3.4 million with disabilities* preventing them from using the standard keyboard, screen and mouse set-up with ease, e-businesses are losing out on some £50 – £60 billion per year* buying power. As this survey shows, many disabled people are still being excluded from the independence and convenience of on-line banking.

“Whilst Internet access can offer life-enhancing and life-changing opportunities; the vision of an inclusive ‘e-society’ depends on website accessibility for everyone, whatever their disability or the technology they employ,” said Shuna Kennedy, AbilityNet’s chief executive. “For thousands of disabled people, especially those with restricted mobility or visual impairment, direct on-line access to their finances and the ability to manage their money autonomously is critical to their peace of mind.

“Internet access to information for disabled people isn’t only a commercial and moral duty of care,” Kennedy noted. “Like other suppliers of goods and services, websites have to be accessible as a matter of law under the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act.”

State of the eNation reports

AbilityNet is at the forefront of a number of initiatives both at home and abroad to improve website accessibility for disabled people and provide both private and public sector organisations with the expertise they need to ensure that their websites are meeting guideline levels of compliance (such as those recommended by the W3C/WAI).

AbilityNet’s ‘state of the eNation’ reports are designed to draw attention to the issue of accessibility and to help disabled people find the best websites for their needs. The top sites selected by search engine ranking in a number of specific industries are being evaluated and the findings published. AbilityNet’s next report will focus on on-line supermarkets.

All the banks reviewed were contacted a month before the publication of the results and asked to make a public commitment to accessibility. Said Robin Christopherson: “To date only smile, LloydsTSB and Cahoot have made such a commitment – although Natwest have a statement to that effect on their website.”

• *HumanITy – 2003
• *Employers Forum on Disability – 2003

Ends
February 2004
Issued by the AbilityNet Press Office
01926 429595

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