Accessibility statement for writtle.ac.uk

This accessibility statement applies to this website, writtle.ac.uk
This website is run by Writtle University College. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate the website using just a keyboard
• navigate the website using speech recognition software
• listen to the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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

Making changes to your browser and operating system

Please find advice from AbilityNet, showing users how to make full use of accessibility settings in browsers and operating systems.

How accessible this website is

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

• Some PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• There are some supplementary forms which remain in PDF format. These will be replaced with accessible Word or HTML versions by September 2021
• There are PDF versions of printed brochures for our Schools which are not fully accessible to screen readers, the information contained within these is available elsewhere on our website in html format
• Our videos do not have audio descriptions
• Captions/synchronised transcripts provided with our videos are usually generated by Automated Speech Recognition and although we have endeavoured to ensure the greatest level of accuracy there may be some errors especially with complex technical terms
• Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• Some of our pages can be difficult to navigate with a screen reader
• Some of our pages can be difficult to navigate with voice navigation
• Not all of our images have alternative text added to them
• On some pages our headings are empty

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website/s in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• Email - digital-accessibility@writtle.ac.uk
• Call +44 (0)1245 424200
• Digital Accessibility Team, Writtle University College, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 3RR

We will acknowledge your request within 72 hours. Depending on the nature of your request, we will aim to meet your needs within 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

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 the Web Accessibility Team, digital-accessibility@writtle.ac.uk.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Information on how to contact or visit Writtle University College can be found on our contact us webpage.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible Content - non compliance with regulations

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

Issues with interactive elements

• Our 360 virtual tour (https://writtle.ac.uk/virtual-tour) uses mouse click, so users with no vision (who cannot use devices such as mice that require eye-hand coordination) as well as users who must use alternate keyboards or input devices that act as keyboard emulators will be unable to access the function of the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 A F54 Success Criterion 2.1.1 due to using only pointing-device-specific event handlers (including gesture) for a function and should have an equivalent keyboard event (onkey) handler. The virtual tour was developed by a third party and we are working with them to add equivalent onkey handlers. We plan to have onkey handlers added by December 2022.

• Some HTML form controls have no accessible name, so users using screen readers to voice the label will not be able to identify the purpose of the form control. This fails WCAG 2.1 A F68 Success Criterion 4.1.2 due to a user interface control not having a programmatically determined name. We plan to add missing labels to form controls by December 2022.

• Some forms use an onchange handler to open information windows, so users who navigate using a keyboard cannot operate the select lists because the handler fires as the user moves the selection up and down using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 A F36 Success Criterion 3.2.2 due to automatically submitting a form and presenting new content without prior warning when the last field in the form is given a value. We plan to give users advanced warning when opening a new window by December 2022.

• Some PDF documents are not tagged, so are not accessible for screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 1.3.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). When we publish new PDF content, we’ll make sure they are tagged. Where possible new PDF documents will have accessible Word or HTML alternative. We plan to add tags all historic PDF documents by December 2022.

Page titles

• Some pages have the same title, so the title cannot be used to distinguish pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 A F25 Success Criterion 2.4.2 due to the title of a Web page not identifying the contents. We plan to add unique titles by November 2022.

White title text overlay on video

• Homepage, some elements of the featured white title text do not have sufficient colour contrast on the video. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum) due to not providing enough contrast between text and its background. We plan to add a new background video by November 2022.

Disproportionate burden

We currently have no items we would classify as disproportionate burden. This may change as regulations and content changes, or if items are discovered that we would classify under this heading.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access and use our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2021, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible Word documents or HTML pages.

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 2th April 2021. It is was reviewed October 14th, 2022.

This website was last tested on 20th October 2022. The test was carried out by the Writtle University College Principal Technical Developer.

We use PowerMapper SortSite Desktop to routinely test our website and highlight accessibility issues. SortSite checks sites against W3 WCAG accessibility standards.

We are carrying out a full website human visual inspection which will be completed by November 2022.

More information about testing using SortSite can be found on their website, https://www.powermapper.com/products/sortsite/tests/