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Accessibility statement

This statement applies to MTD Gateway at mtdgateway.co.uk, including the signed-in parts of the service. It does not cover HMRC's own pages, which you are sent to when you connect your HMRC account. HMRC publishes its own accessibility statement for those.

How accessible this service is meant to be

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this service. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 at level AA.

The service is built with the GOV.UK Design System, which is designed and tested for accessibility. That means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your browser or operating system
  • zoom in up to 300% without text spilling off the screen
  • navigate the whole service using just a keyboard
  • listen to the service using a screen reader

We use the Design System's error summary pattern, so validation problems are announced and each message links to the field it belongs to, and we keep to one main thing per page.

How accessible this service actually is

Warning This service has been tested automatically, by keyboard, and with screen readers. It has not been tested by disabled people, and it has not been independently audited. We believe it meets WCAG 2.2 level AA, but until those are done we do not claim full compliance.

Using the GOV.UK Design System gets us a long way, but it does not by itself make a service accessible, so we have tested the parts we built on top of it. That includes the CSV import, which is the most custom screen in the service: it had real problems, and they are fixed.

Audit results

We tested the service on 25 July 2026, in-house, using the axe accessibility engine against WCAG 2.2 level A and AA, on all 23 pages of the service including every signed-in page and the agent pages. We also checked keyboard navigation by hand, and checked that every page works at a 320 pixel width without sideways scrolling.

These are the problems we found, and what we did about them:

  • Every page reported the same title, so people using a screen reader or several browser tabs could not tell them apart. This failed WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled (level A). Fixed. Each page now has its own title.
  • There was no "Skip to main content" link, so anyone using a keyboard had to tab through the whole header on every page. Fixed. A skip link is now the first thing you reach, and it moves focus into the main content.
  • Several forms moved focus into the first field as the page loaded, which skipped the page heading and the skip link. Fixed. Pages now start at the top.
  • On the home page, the banner at the top sat outside the main content landmark, so people navigating by landmark could miss it. Fixed.
  • Moving between pages changed nothing a screen reader could hear, because this part of the service does not reload the page when you navigate. Fixed. Moving to a new page now moves you to the top of its content, so it is read out.
  • On the CSV import screen, the category dropdown on each row had no name a screen reader could announce, so it read as an unlabelled combo box. This failed WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (level A). Fixed. Each one is now named after the transaction it belongs to.
  • Moving between the three steps of the CSV import changed the screen without saying so. Fixed. Each step is now announced and focus moves to its heading.
  • Every signed-in page needed sideways scrolling on a small phone, at a 320 pixel width. This failed WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (level AA). Fixed. Tables now scroll within their own area, which you can reach by keyboard, instead of stretching the page.

After those fixes, automated testing reports no failures on any page. Automated testing typically finds only about a third of accessibility problems, so this is not the same as the service being accessible.

Screen reader testing

On 25 July 2026 we went through the service with three screen reader and browser pairings:

  • NVDA with Firefox
  • VoiceOver with Safari
  • Narrator with Edge

We covered creating an account and signing in, connecting to HMRC, adding and editing a transaction, importing transactions from a CSV file, the profit and loss summary, the submissions table, changing a password, and the account deletion flow.

The import screen was tested last, after we fixed the two problems listed above. It now works with all three. This testing was done by the people who build the service, not by disabled people who use screen readers daily, so it is a check rather than a substitute for the real thing.

What we have not tested yet

  • testing with disabled people, rather than by the team that built the service
  • an independent audit by an accessibility specialist

Until those are done, please tell us if you hit a problem. We will fix it and say so here.

Reporting an accessibility problem

If you find a problem, or you need information from this service in a different format, email support@mtdgateway.co.uk.

Tell us:

  • the web address of the page
  • what you were trying to do
  • what happened, and what you expected to happen
  • the browser, device and any assistive technology you were using

We treat accessibility reports as faults in the service. We will confirm we have received your report, tell you what we are going to do about it, and give you the information you asked for in another way in the meantime.

How we will prepare the full statement

The automated check, the keyboard walkthrough and the screen reader testing are done, and their findings are above. What is left is testing with disabled people and an independent audit, which are the parts we cannot do ourselves.

Last updated: 25 July 2026