Accessibility

If you have an impairment, disability, or health condition that makes it difficult to read or respond to our usual communications, please let us know. We’re here to help and can provide our information in a way that works better for you.

We can offer materials in a range of alternative formats, including:

• Braille
• Large print
• Audio formats

If you’d like to request an alternative format, please call us, write to us or send us a secure message through our online Self-Serve system.

We understand that if you don’t use English regularly, it may be harder to communicate with us.

Here are some ways we can help when you contact us or when we send you information about your account.

When you call us

If English isn’t your first language, you might find it helpful to have a trusted friend or family member with you when you call. They can help translate or explain things during the conversation.

When you call, we’ll need to confirm your identity first. After that, you can let us know if you’re happy for your friend or family member to speak to us on your behalf.

If you’d prefer you can also set up a third-party authority.  This allows someone you trust to contact us for you, even when you’re not there.

You can find more information about how to do this on the Making a change page of our website.

Problems understanding written English

Please tell us if you receive a letter or text message that you don’t understand.

We’re not able to provide translations. However, we can give you extra time to read and understand the information if you need it.

You can find all our contact details and opening hours here.  

We understand that if you have hearing loss or a speech impairment it may not be easy for you to contact us.

You may find it helpful to use the Relay UK service. Relay UK is a free 24-hour service that helps people with hearing loss or speech difficulties to communicate in English over the phone.

You don’t need any special kit, just download the free Relay UK app and link it to your phone number. You can use the service on a compatible smartphone, tablet or PC and will need an internet connection.  If you prefer you can still use a traditional textphone.

To use Relay UK on your device, dial 18001, followed by the phone number that you’d like to call, and there’s no extra cost.

A Relay assistant will help relay the conversation between you and the person you are calling. It works like a 3-way call between you, a Relay assistant, and our telephone agent.

Relay assistants are trained professionals. bound by confidentiality and will act on your behalf. This means it’s safe to answer security questions when using the service.

You can find more information about Relay UK, including how-to videos and step-by-step guides on their website.

We’ve designed our website with our customers in mind and included features to make it accessible to everyone.

Wherever possible, our website follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at AA level. This helps make sure our content is easy to use and accessible for people with a range of needs.

To support customers who use assistive technologies:

• We use clear HTML headings to structure each page and make navigation easier
• We ensure good colour contrast between text and backgrounds
• We don’t rely on colour alone to convey important information

For customers using screen readers, a ‘Skip to content’ link is available to help you quickly access the main content on each page.

Website display settings

You can adjust some of the display settings of our website by clicking the small round symbol in the top right corner of each page.

Click here to open the display settings menu now

Font size – choose a large or extra-large text size across the website

Contrast – select a higher contrast option such as ‘white text on a black background’ or ‘yellow text on blue background’

Open Dyslexic font – use a font designed to improve readability for people with dyslexia

Line spacing – increase the space between lines of text for easier reading

Justification – set text to be left-aligned where possible across the website

Any changes you make to the display settings will be saved locally on your browser, so they should be applied automatically next time you visit our website, if you use the same device.