Accessibility statement

Hearth is used by care staff on whatever device is to hand, at any hour, often in a hurry. It needs to work for staff who use a screen reader, who navigate by keyboard, who need larger text, or who find low-contrast text hard to read. This is where we set out how far we have got, and what is still not right.

This statement applies to carehearth.co.uk and to the Hearth application at carehearth.co.uk/app. It was prepared on 29 July 2026 and is based on our own testing.

How accessible this service is

We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. We believe the public pages (the home page, guides, and these trust and legal pages) now meet that standard. The signed-in application partially meets it: the parts described below are known not to conform yet.

We have said “partially compliant” rather than claiming full conformance because we have not yet completed an independent audit of every screen in the application. We would rather tell you what we have not checked than claim something your own testing could disprove.

What we have done

• Text contrast. Every colour used for text has been measured against its background and meets the 4.5:1 minimum. Two colours in our palette previously failed this and have been darkened.
• Skip to content. A skip link is the first thing keyboard focus reaches on every page, so you can jump past the navigation.
• Page landmarks. Every page exposes proper header, navigation, main and footer regions, so screen-reader users can move between them directly.
• Form labels. Every form control has a real label. Where the design shows only a placeholder, the label is still present for screen readers, because a placeholder disappears as soon as you start typing.
• Errors are announced. Validation messages are marked so a screen reader reads them out when they appear, rather than leaving you to discover the form did not submit.
• Visible focus. Keyboard focus is always visibly outlined.
• Reduced motion. The animation on our home page stops automatically if your device is set to reduce motion.

Known problems

The following are not yet fixed. Each is real, and each has an owner.

• The signed-in application has not been independently audited. We have tested it ourselves but not had it checked by an accessibility specialist or by users of assistive technology. Planned before our first local-authority contract.
• Some data tables scroll sideways on small screens. They are readable and keyboard-reachable, but the experience on a phone is poor for tables with many columns, such as the rota and the retention register.
• Charts in the insights section are visual. The underlying numbers are available as a table and as an export, but the charts themselves do not yet carry text alternatives describing the trend.
• Uploaded documents are not our content. Certificates, policies and scanned records uploaded by a home may be inaccessible (for example a scanned PDF with no text layer). We cannot fix the accessibility of a file a customer uploads, but we do not prevent you from replacing it with an accessible version.

Reporting an accessibility problem

If you find a problem, or need something in a different format, email hello@carehearth.co.uk with “Accessibility” in the subject line. Tell us the page, what you were trying to do, and what got in the way.

We will acknowledge within 5 working days and tell you what we intend to do and when. If something is blocking you from doing your job right now, say so, and we will look for a way round it while we fix the underlying problem.

If you are not happy with our response

The Equality and Human Rights Commission enforces the accessibility regulations. If you are unhappy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service, who can advise you.

Technical information

Hearth Systems Ltd is committed to making Hearth accessible in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Those regulations apply directly to public sector bodies rather than to us as a private supplier, but our customers include, and we intend to serve, local authorities who must meet them. We therefore hold ourselves to the same standard.

Hearth is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 level AA, because of the known problems listed above.

How we tested

Tested on 29 July 2026 by Hearth Systems Ltd. Testing covered the public pages and the main application screens, and included keyboard-only navigation, programmatic checks of colour contrast ratios against both page backgrounds, and inspection of the accessibility tree for landmarks, labels and roles. It did not include testing with every combination of screen reader and browser, and it was not carried out by an independent specialist.

What we are doing next

• Text alternatives for the insight charts.
• Reworking the widest tables so they are usable on a phone.
• An independent audit of the signed-in application, before our first local-authority contract.
• Re-testing after every significant change, and updating this page with the date.

Statement prepared 29 July 2026. Last reviewed 29 July 2026. See also our security overview and trust page.

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