Are you planning a visit and need to know about the facilities at our museums? Visit our Facilities and access page instead.

Royal Museums Greenwich is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to rmg.co.uk.

We believe that accessibility should be regarded as a continual work in progress and we will work with an advisory group to review and improve our digital communications on an ongoing basis. We also follow best practices to meet a minimum level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.

This website is run by Royal Museums Greenwich. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a desktop or mobile screen reader

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • There are some navigation, button and link elements with low colour contrast.
  • The heading structure is incorrect on some pages.
  • There are some focus order and reflowing issues at 400% zoom.
  • The structure of some PDF documents is incorrect.
  • Some functions can’t be controlled using the touch gestures of a mobile screen reader, including Android Talkback and iOS VoiceOver.
  • Some menu items can’t be accessed when using a mobile screen reader, including Android Talkback and iOS VoiceOver.
  • Users of desktop screen readers are not always informed of additional content.
  • Some navigation and content is inaccessible to users of Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and the exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

1.1.1 Non-Text Content – Alternative Text Not Present for Non-Decorative Imagery

The Royal Museums Greenwich logo in the Cookie banner has an insufficient alternative text, “logo”. This is managed by a third-party provider, Cookiebot, and we are unable to change it. 

1.1.1 Non-Text Content – Buttons Do Not Have an Accessible Name

The cookie widget button has an insufficient label, “open widget”. This is managed by a third-party provider, Cookiebot, and we are unable to change it.

1.1.1 Non-Text Content - Form Inputs Lack Text Labels

On the Collections page, the collections search field does not have an accessible label. This may make it difficult for users of screen readers to identify and may result in a confusing announcement. This is due to be fixed in December 2025.

1.1.1 Non-Text Content - Embedded Multimedia Not Identified by Accessible Text, 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value - ARIA Attributes Must Conform to Valid Values and Names, 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value - Elements Must Only Use Permitted ARIA Attributes

Some embedded content has unsuitable titles and/or ARIA attributes to announce to assistive technology users. The are embedded from third-party hosting sites such YouTube, Wistia and Vimeo using the media embed function provided by our text editor, CKEditor 5. We are unable to improve these titles or attributes as CKEditor does not allow them to be edited.

2.4.1 Bypass Blocks - Heading Structure Incorrect

The heading hierarchy is incorrectly structured. Skipped heading levels can result in screen reader users missing content. This is a long-standing issue that we are retroactively fixing. This is due to be completed by June 2026.

2.4.3 Focus Order – Focus Order is Not Logical on Mobile Screen Reader

When navigating the main navigation menu using a mobile screen reader (Android TalkBack or iOS VoiceOver), after swiping beyond the last menu item, focus continues to move onto page content hidden behind the navigation menu. This is due to be fixed in January 2026.

4.1.2 Name, Role, Value – Unexpected Behaviour Using Android TalkBack

When navigating the main navigation menu using Android TalkBack (a mobile screen reader), after expanding a menu item to reveal additional submenu items, when the user swiped again to navigate onto the items, the swiping gesture caused the menu to collapse, and the user was unable to navigate through the menu. This is due to be fixed in January 2026.

2.1.1 Keyboard - Unable to Interact with All User Interface Components Using Mobile Screen Readers

When navigating  using a mobile screen reader (Android TalkBack or iOS VoiceOver), carousels were present which could not be interacted with using screen reader touch gestures. It was observed that when the user swiped the page, focus moved to the next element beyond the carousel, and it was not possible to slide the carousel tiles into focus. This is due to be fixed in January 2026.

4.1.2 Name, Role, Value - ARIA Hidden Elements Contains Focusable Content

ARIA hidden elements are focusable or contain focusable elements with the filter buttons on the collection results page. Using the aria-hidden="true" attribute on an element removes the element and all its child nodes from the accessibility API, making it completely inaccessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies. This is due to be fixed in December 2025.

2.4.7 Focus Visible, 2.4.3 Focus Order - Tab Order is Not Logical

On all pages, the keyboard focus is not visible when tabbing between the last link in the body content and the first link in the footer. This is because the tab order and focus is incorrect. This is due to be fixed in December 2025.

4.1.3 Status Messages – User Not Informed of Additional Content Using Mobile Screen Reader

When navigating the main navigation menu using a mobile screen reader (Android TalkBack or iOS VoiceOver) the top-level menu items expanded to reveal additional submenu items, with the screen reader incorrectly announcing the expanded state as collapsed. This is due to be fixed in February 2026.

1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) - Copy Has Insufficient Contrast Against Background

Some content has insufficient contrast, including navigation, link and button hover states, and headings overlaid on images. These are due to be fixed in December 2025. Some issues relate to the hover state of buttons and links in the cookie banner. This is managed by a third-party provider, Cookiebot, and we are awaiting their support to change it.

1.4.10 Reflow - Content Not Available when Content has Reflowed, WCAG 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured

There are several issues when viewing pages at 400% zoom. Previous and next CTAs on carousels are obscured. Hero banners can’t be seen in full. The section navigation, eg on Schools and communities can’t be fully accessed. These issues are due to be fixed in December 2025.

Disproportionate burden

1.1.1 Non-Text Content – Buttons Contain the Same Accessible Name, 4.1.3 Status Messages – User Not Informed of Additional Content, 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast - Lack of Contrast When UI Components Are in Focus or Selected State

The open and close controls on full-screen image gallery items all have the same accessible label, no announcement is made to screen readers when they are opened and they lack colour contrast. We will not fix these issues now as we plan to redevelop the image gallery component by April 2025.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We use an automated scanning tool that provides monthly accessibility reports based on the WCAG 2.2 recommendations. We are working through the issues as they are raised.

The site is manually audited by a software testing and quality assurance company every two years.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This version of the statement was prepared on 10 November 2025.

This website was manually tested in June 2025. The testing was carried out by a software testing and quality assurance company. The website was tested for compliance against international standards, including WCAG 2.2.

We also use a site auditing software to scan the website each month. This produces a compliance report based on the WCAG 2.2 standard.

The statement was last reviewed on 10 November 2025.

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: webcontent@rmg.co.uk.

Please visit our Facilities and access page for details on planning an accessible visit to the Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum, Queen’s House or Royal Observatory Greenwich. Visitors can also contact RMGEnquiries@rmg.co.uk with specific questions.

Find other ways to contact us on our Contact us page.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).

If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).