Stakeholder Bulletin | South Central Ambulance Service

Events | South Central Ambulance Service

Research | South Central Ambulance Service

Contact us | South Central Ambulance Service

Members e-Bulletin | South Central Ambulance Service

Privacy statement | South Central Ambulance Service

News | South Central Ambulance Service

South Central Ambulance Service | Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire

Procurement | South Central Ambulance Service

Performance | South Central Ambulance Service

When selecting a user interface component with the keyboard, the focus indicator must 
not be completely obscured by anything in front of it.

## Why this matters

When using a keyboard, it is important that the user can see where they are on the page.
If the focus indicator is obscured, the user may not know where they are, and may not
be able to interact with the page.

## Examples

Most common examples include:

* Banners at the top or bottom of the page, such as cookie banners
* Fixed navigation bars
* Fixed footers
* Popup modals, such as cookie consent modals

## How to fix

With elements that cover part of the screen, such as cookie banners, ensure
that the user can scroll to see any content behind the banner, without having to close
the banner.

With popup modals, it should usually be impossible to focus anything behind the modal.
Most common modal frameworks will automatically trap focus within the modal, so that
this is impossible. Example: [Bootstrap Modal](https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.2/components/modal/#live-demo).

## Further reading

This is part of the draft WCAG 2.2 specification and is subject to change.

* [WCAG 2.4.12](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/focus-not-obscured.html)

ensure-focus-is-not-obscured-minimum

June 2025

May 2025

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

	Title / URL	Issues
	Stakeholder Bulletin \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/stakeholder-bulletin/	52
	Events \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/get-involved/events/	50
	Research \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/about-scas/research/	47
	Contact us \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/contact-us/	46
	Members e-Bulletin \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/members-e-bulletin/	44
	Privacy statement \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/privacy-statement/	41
	News \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/news/	37
	South Central Ambulance Service \| Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshirewww.scas.nhs.uk/	34
	Procurement \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/about-scas/procurement/	28
	Performance \| South Central Ambulance Servicewww.scas.nhs.uk/about-scas/performance/	26

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Where this issue has occurred