We are committed to complying with the Disability
Discrimination Act and have made significant improvements to our
website in order to reduce the barriers experienced by people with
disabilities. In accordance with Central Government guidelines it
is our policy to create pages to W3C Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines Priority 2 level. We are aware, however, that
occasionally we do make mistakes. If you find any of our pages
inaccessible to you please use the
online website problem form
to let us know (including details of the technology you are using)
and we will make every reasonable effort to either remove the
barrier or provide the information in a format that you find
acceptable.
How we implement our policy
Accessibility and plain language principles
are written into into the guidelines that our editors use.
These include:
- Trying to keep a consistent layout and
navigation system (although we recognise there is still work to do
in certain areas)
- Try to create an ordered structure to webpages
and downloadable files.
- Try to provide downloadable files in a
system-neutral format such as PDF and where possible in a variety
of formats.
- Making sure that all text can be resized by
users
- Use text and background colour
combinations with sufficient contrast and which are not known
to cause problems for sufferers of colour-blindness
- Use meaningful alt attributes on all images, and
titles on links
- Design pages to be viewed at a range of screen
resolutions
- Ensure all links use descriptive and meaningful
text
- Provide links for users with screen readers or
keyboards to skip to the main content of each page
- Provide customisable access keys to allow
keyboard navigation to the main areas of the site (this ensures
that there is no conflict with user's operating systems)
- Try not to use jargon or unnecessarily
complicated words and sentences
- Try not to rely on client-side scripts for vital
functionality
Download
'Guidelines for Writing and Editing Web Pages' (PDF: 470Kb / 27
pages)
How do we check the accessibility of our site
- We regularly run checks using automated
software against the live site.
- We conduct manual and automated checks against
all of the WCAG1.0 priority 1 & 2 checkpoints for new templates
and applications built in-house.
- We conduct manual and automated checks against
all of the WCAG1.0 priority 1 & 2 checkpoints on new
third-party applications bought in. If non-compliance issues are
found we alert the supplier and make recommendations on how to make
applications compliant. So far we have found most suppliers more
than willing to co-operate.
- Last, but by no means least, we have had
the site design tested by real users with visual and
motor-disabilities and implemented changes based upon their
findings.
