Accessibility

Penguin Random House values inclusion, equality, and accessibility for all, which is why we strive to ensure our website is accessible to all people, regardless of abilities.

Accessibility feedback

We will actively continue our efforts to improve the accessibility of our websites, however, if you have specific questions, concerns, or feedback about the accessibility of our websites, or if you are having difficulty or need assistance using our website, please contact us at +44 (0)20 7139 3000 or webfeedback@penguin.co.uk

Conformance Status

The European Accessibility Act is a directive that requires member states of the EU to create and implement legislation that improves the accessibility of various products and services for people with disabilities.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. WCAG is consistently identified and upheld as the de facto global standard on website accessibility. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Under the EU regulations the standard to meet is currently WCAG 2.2 Level AA, which gives a good baseline on accessibility for most barrier needs.

Penguin Random House is currently partially compliant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. This means that some parts of the website do not yet fully conform to the accessibility standard. Penguin Random House is actively working on remediating the know issues under expert support.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of the Penguin Random House website. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers:

Phone: +44 (0)20 7139 3000
E-mail: webfeedback@penguin.co.uk
Postal Address: One Embassy Gardens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London, SW11 7BW, UK

We try to respond to feedback within 5 business days.

Technical Specifications

Accessibility of Penguin Random House’s website relies on the use of certain technologies to make it work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer. These technologies include:

HTML
CSS
WAI-ARIA
JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Accessibility assessment approach

Penguin Random House assesses the accessibility of the Penguin Random House website periodically by means of external evaluations.

This means that an independent third party has evaluated the website against the WCAG 2.2 guidelines and reported on their findings. This was done using both automated and extensive manual testing, including testing with assistive technologies, to ensure excellent coverage.

Penguin Random House is determined to try and remediate the findings from these evaluations, as to improve the accessibility of the Penguin Random House website.

The most recent evaluation of the Penguin Random House website took place on 30^th January 2025.

Known Accessibility Limitations

Despite our best efforts to ensure the accessibility of our website, there may be some limitations. Below is a description of known limitations, and potential solutions. Please contact us if you observe an issue not listed below.

Known accessibility limitations:

Some images are missing alternative text
Decorative images are not hidden from screen readers
Some icons are missing a meaningful label
Captions and transcripts are not provided for some videos
Some group of links and quotes have not been structured programmatically
Some card components do not announce all visible information to screen readers
Line breaks are not implemented semantically correct
Personal data inputs are missing the autocomplete attribute
The sticky header prevents users from viewing and interacting with the page
Error messages are not associated with the relevant inputs
Placeholder have been used a label
There is insufficient colour contrast in some areas
Some components and links are not available to keyboard or assistive technology users, such as “Quick View” and accordions
There is no functionality to pause or stop automatic scrolling carousels
The skip to main link doesn’t work as expected
The keyboard focus doesn’t move into new content
Background elements still receive focus when the modal is in view
Some elements are missing a visible focus outline and in some areas is it not clear enough
The current page or section is not communicated to screen readers

Penguin Random House is actively working on resolving the accessibility problems on the Penguin Random House website.

Formal Approval of This Accessibility Statement

This Accessibility Statement is approved by: Nomensa

This statement was created on 30^th January 2025

As part of our mission of making books for everyone, Penguin Random House UK works in partnership with several organisations to make our books accessible to readers who may need different formats.

Penguin Random House UK is a proud signatory of the UK Publishing Accessibility Action Group's Charter for Accessible Publishing.

Accessible formats of our books are available for free through the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and Calibre Audio.

RNIB is one of the UK’s leading sight loss charities and our books are available to RNIB members who are impacted by sight loss through their Reading Services initiatives. Digital and audiobooks are available to all members through Talking Books and learners can use Bookshare to access textbooks, materials and books that support the UK curriculum from early years to adult education.

We also give the RNIB access to reproduce Penguin Random House UK books in braille, large and giant print, and tactile diagram formats. If you need books in one of these formats, please contact the RNIB who can arrange this.

Calibre Audio provide audiobook services to anyone who has a print disability which makes reading and understanding text difficult, including visual impairments, learning disabilities, physical dexterity conditions, and individuals who are experiencing long Covid. Calibre Audio members can access all Penguin Random House UK titles in audiobook format for free through their service. Our partnerships with RNIB and Calibre Audio support our efforts to make our books more inclusive and accessible as part of our Social Impact strategy.

We also provide accessible copies of our ebooks in EPUB 3, the most open and accessible digital format, and strive for high standards of accessibility for our reflowable ebooks in compliance with the European Accessibility Act, WCAG 2.1 AA Guidelines (as applicable), and W3 EPUB Accessibility 1.1 across most of our newly published titles.

If you have any other specific access requests, please get in touch by emailing AccessibleFilesRequests@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk.