How to make easy read documents accessible

What is easy read?

Easy read uses pictures and short sentences to help people with learning disabilities understand information. It can also help people who have a low literacy level or who use English as a second language.

Although some people with learning disabilities can read and understand easy read information independently, others will still need help. For example, a carer might use easy read content as a tool to help explain information to the person they support.

Creating easy read documents

Writing good-quality easy read documents is a skilled task.

You should only create easy read documents if you have completed easy read training.

When to use an external easy read provider

If you need an easy read version of a complicated or technical document, you should ask an easy read provider to create this for you. This will ensure that difficult concepts or phrases are explained accurately.

Meeting web accessibility regulations

Easy read documents must meet the same accessibility regulations as other documents we upload to our websites.

If you need to create an easy read document, this guide will show you how to make sure it meets:

• The needs of easy read users
• The web content accessibility guidelines

We have created a checklist you can use to make sure documents you or your easy read provider have created are accessible.

Support to create accessible documents

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team can help you create accessible Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents for a small fee.

They will make sure your documents meet web accessibility regulations and other accessibility needs. This will ensure as many people as possible can access your documents - including people who are blind, D/deaf or who have learning difficulties.

The service is charged in 15 minute intervals and costs:

• £30 per hour for internal Norfolk County Council customers
• £99 per hour for external customers

To request this service, contact the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team on [email protected]. Read our privacy notice to find out how we use your personal information.

You need to do manual and automatic checks to make sure your easy read document is accessible.

You must check that it:

• Was created in Word or you can address any accessibility issues using Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Is portrait oriented
• Uses a standard easy read layout
• Is written in short, clear sentences
• Includes text that is formatted correctly
• Uses easy read images which are marked as decorative
• Uses descriptive link text
• Includes a descriptive document title
• Includes a link to the original content (if it is an alternative version)

Then, convert your easy read document to an accessible PDF.

You should aim to create easy read documents in Microsoft Word. This is because Word has several tools and formatting functions that help you create accessible documents.

This guide includes instructions on how to use Word to make sure your easy read document is accessible, then convert it to an accessible PDF.

Other applications

People sometimes use other applications to create easy read documents. For example, PowerPoint or Adobe InDesign. Easy read trainers often suggest using PowerPoint to create easy read documents.

However, it can be very difficult to create an accessible easy read document using PowerPoint or InDesign. You should only do this if you have the skills and software to:

• Create the document following this guide
• Convert the document to a PDF
• Accessibility check the PDF and fix any issues you find using Adobe Acrobat Pro. You should use our How to make PDFs accessible guide to help you do this

If you create your easy read document using an application other than Word, the Digital Customer Experience Team can accessibility check the PDF for you. They will tell you if it has any accessibility issues. However, it is your responsibility to fix any accessibility issues using Acrobat Pro. If you can't fix them, they will recommend you recreate your document in Word instead.

Most visitors use mobile devices to view our websites, so it's usually better to use portrait orientation for your documents.

Portrait oriented documents display better on mobile devices, reducing the need for users to zoom or scroll to access information in the document.

Images in easy read documents usually go to the left of the words they support - so the user "reads" the image before the text.

Don't use tables to layout blocks of images and text. You can find advice on layout in:

• Change People's guide to creating easy read documents
• GOV.UK guidance on easy read

How to create an easy read layout in Word

Adding images in Word documents can cause the text to move around to fit the image.

To avoid this issue, move the Left Indent towards the centre of the page in your Word document. This is around 7.5cm on a standard A4 portrait page layout. You can do this by:

• Opening the Layout menu and typing 7.5cm in the Left field under Indent, or
• Selecting the Left Indent marker on the ruler at the top of the page and dragging it across to the 7.5cm mark

You will now be able to:

• Add left-aligned text down the right-hand side of the page
• Add your easy read images to the left of your text without affecting the layout of the text

Text boxes

Avoid using text boxes in Word. This is because software that reads text aloud to people, like screen readers, can't usually access the text in text boxes. Instead: 

• If you want to position text in your document in a particular place on the page, trying using the indents and spacing tools 
• If you want to add a coloured background or outline to your text, add a shape behind the text. Then mark the shape as decorative. Microsoft Office explain how to mark images as decorative in a Word document

Writing easy read documents is a skilled task that requires training. It is not the same as writing in plain English.

Easy read information should:

• Be written in short, clear sentences
• Not include more than one piece of information in each sentence
• Use easy words. For example, write "doctor" instead of "general practitioner"
• Not use difficult words or jargon. If this is unavoidable, explain what the difficult word means in easy words - either on the same page or in a glossary
• Explain what acronyms stand for unless they are very common. For example: "Your CCG will have information booklets around health. CCG means Clinical Care Commissioning Group. This is your local health authority."
• Not use abbreviations - write "for example" instead of "eg"
• Not use contractions - write "cannot" instead of "can't"

You can find advice on writing and formatting easy read content in:

• Change People's guide to creating easy read documents
• The GOV.UK guidance on easy read

You can use the Hemingway app to check how easy your content is to read. For easy read content, you should aim for a readability level between grade 4 to grade 6.

Make sure you format the text in your easy read document correctly. This will help:

• People looking at your document
• People listening to your document using read aloud or screen reader software

You must:

• Follow our colour contrast advice. This will help you make sure that text in your document is easy to see
• Follow our headings advice. This will help you make sure text headings help people understand and navigate your document
• If you use any bullet point or numbered lists, follow our lists advice. This will help you format lists clearly and consistently

You can find more advice on formatting easy read text in:

• Change People's guide to creating easy read documents
• The GOV.UK guidance on easy read

The images in easy read documents are there as a visual tool to help the user understand the text. Having alt text for an image read out by a screen reader would not support the user in the same way - and could even be confusing.

For this reason, you must:

• Make sure that any important information in the images is also included in the document text, and
• Mark the images as decorative. Microsoft Office explain how to mark images as decorative in a Word document.

Getting easy read images

You are responsible for sourcing appropriate easy read images for your content. The Digital Customer Experience Team don't subscribe to any easy read image libraries, so cannot provide easy read images. Some NCC services subscribe to photosymbols.com for their easy read images.

You need to be careful when selecting images. Make sure each image reflects what the text it accompanies is saying.

Read advice on choosing and using easy read images in:

• Change People's guide to creating easy read documents
• GOV.UK guidance on easy read

You must use descriptive link text for any links in the main body of your easy read document.

You can provide a list of full URLs at the end of your document, so that they can be used by someone using a printed version of the document.

A document title describes what your document is about to the user. Your document title should include:

• The document topic
• 'easy read' - or 'easy read version' if the easy read document is an alternative version of an existing document or web page

For example, 'Easy read guide to creating accessible documents.'

Adding a document title isn't the same as adding a text heading to the first page of your document or a file name. Find out how to add a document title in Word.

If the easy read document is being provided as an alternative version of an existing document or web page, we recommend:

• You include a link to the original web page, or the web page where the original document is hosted, in your easy read version
• You include "easy read version" in the document title. This helps show users that there's another version that may suit their needs better
• You add a link to your easy read version on the original web page, or the web page where the original document is hosted

When you have finished your easy read document, you must convert it to a tagged PDF before it can be shared online. Find out how to convert a Word document to an accessible PDF.​​​​​​​