Accessibility statement

Accessibility is a baseline, not a feature. Northbrik designs and ships this site and the client portal to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA. We treat accessibility as a release gate, not a retrofit.

We commit to the UK Equality Act 2010 duty to make reasonable adjustments for users with disabilities on any service we run. We do not charge extra for accessible output in anything we build.

WCAG 2.1 AA covers four principles — perceivable, operable, understandable, robust — and a set of success criteria beneath each. In plain terms, that means:

• Every non-decorative image has alternative text.
• Colour is not the only way information is conveyed.
• Content meets 4.5:1 contrast for normal text and 3:1 for large text and UI components.
• Every interactive element is reachable and operable with a keyboard alone.
• Pages have a logical heading order and a named landmark structure.
• Form fields have visible labels and programmatically-associated help text.
• Motion respects prefers-reduced-motion and can be paused.
• Error messages are clear and announced to assistive technology.

We combine automation with manual testing. Neither alone is enough. Automated tools catch roughly 30 – 40% of WCAG failures; the rest need a human.

Automated

axe-core and Lighthouse accessibility audits run in CI on every pull request. Builds fail if new violations appear.

Keyboard

Every page is walked with Tab, Shift-Tab, Enter, Space, and the arrow keys. Focus order, focus visibility and escape from traps are checked.

Screen reader

Pages are exercised with VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, NVDA on Windows, and — where a client requires it — TalkBack on Android and JAWS on Windows.

Reduced motion & high contrast

We test with prefers-reduced-motion, forced-colors (Windows High Contrast), and 200% browser zoom.

Colour

Contrast is verified with Stark in design, and sampled in the browser using WCAG contrast tools. No palette ships without a passing result.

This statement applies to northbrik.com, including the client portal at /client, the admin portal at /admin, and every surface served under those paths. It does not cover third-party documents embedded from a client organisation (for example, an uploaded PDF authored by a client), which remain that organisation's responsibility.

We keep a public list of known accessibility defects rather than claiming perfection. Items are removed when fixed and re-tested.

Legacy PDF attachments

Some contracts and delivery exports are rendered as PDF. Older PDFs may be un-tagged. We target tagged PDF/UA for every new export shipped after May 2026.

Rich-text editor in messages

The portal's in-app message composer has limited screen-reader hinting for inline attachments. A fix is scheduled for Q3 2026.

Marketing hero animation

The homepage hero plays a brief entry animation on first load. It respects prefers-reduced-motion, but the staggered reveal can still be noticeable at high refresh rates. We are investigating a static fallback.

If you need any document we produce in a specific alternative format (large print, plain text, BSL video, or an accessible Word file instead of PDF), email hello@northbrik.com. We will aim to return a compliant alternative within five UK working days at no charge.

If you encounter a barrier on this site or the client portal, please tell us. We would rather fix a real problem than maintain a clean statement.

1. 01Email hello@northbrik.com with the URL, a short description of the barrier, and (if relevant) the assistive technology you are using.
2. 02We acknowledge every report within two UK working days.
3. 03We commit to a remediation plan within ten UK working days that includes a clear fix date or a written reason if a workaround is the better answer.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) enforces the Equality Act 2010. If you are unhappy with how we respond to an accessibility complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) at equalityadvisoryservice.com.