Accessibility

Scope and ownership

This accessibility statement applies to the websites  on the university blog domain, which are listed at https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/. The Business Systems Operations team within Information Systems and Support are responsible for the digital accessibility of this platform. Blog owners are responsible for the digital accessibility of the content added to the blogs.

Using the website

This website is run by the University of Westminster. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, which means that you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate the website using just a keyboard
• navigate the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (most well-known screen readers)

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

For more advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability, visit the AbilityNet website.

Accessibility of the website

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible and have listed the issues according to level of impact, from high to low:

Higher priority issues

• Some elements that are visually styled as headings are not marked up as such. For users with assistive technology to navigate the page with headings, they must be marked up correctly.
• Some elements that are visually styled as lists are not marked up as such. This may make them difficult to understand when using assistive technology.
• Some interactive elements are not labelled correctly or do not have useful instructions. Users may not understand what the purpose of the element is.
• Some images represent unique information on the page. Due to the lack of alternative text, users might miss this information
• There are elements with insufficient colour contrast. These elements can be difficult to read, especially for those with low vision, poor eyesight, or colour blindness.

Lower priority issues

• No skip link is available for users to bypass certain blocks of content.
• The site does not appropriately reflow content when viewed at 400% zoom. As a result, low vision users might miss some information and functionality.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please visit our digital accessibility contact us webpage for information on how to request this.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We have tested a sample of pages on the website. If you find an issue we have not yet identified, you can report it to us. We’ll pass this information to the website owner who will review the issue, make sure it is included in our plan to fix issues and add it into the accessibility statement when it is next updated.

Please visit our digital accessibility contact us webpage for information on how to report an accessibility problem.

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).

Ways to contact us

You can contact us by email or phone. If you prefer to visit us in person, get in touch and we’ll advise on which teams are available to meet with you.

Information on how to contact us is available on our digital accessibility contact us webpage.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Westminster is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 – AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• Text styled as headings have not been marked up as such. (WCAG 2.1 – 1.3.1)
• Resize text buttons not keyboard accessible. (WCAG 2.1 – 2.1.1)
• No skip links.(WCAG 2.1 – 2.4.1)
• Search field has no label. (WCAG 2.1 – 3.3.2)
• Image has no alt attribute.(WCAG 2.1 – 1.1.1)
• Page does not reflow. (WCAG 2.1 – 1.4.10)
• Link text colour does not meet contrast requirements.(WCAG 2.1 – 1.4.3)

Disproportionate burden
N/A

Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulation

PDFs and other documents
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.

We are working to review the PDFs and Word documents that are essential to providing our services. We’ll either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish after 23 September 2020 will meet accessibility standards.

Pre-recorded time-based media published before 23 September 2020
We do not plan to add captions to pre-recorded time-based media published before 23 September 2020 because these are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

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 5th September 2020. It was last reviewed on 5th September 2020.

This website was last tested on 28th April 2020. The test was carried out by AbilityNet, an external auditor who specialises in digital accessibility.

We took expert advice from AbilityNet to identify a sample of pages to test from a number of blogs. AbilityNet selected a sample of webpages based on the potential challenges that non-accessible content would have on the core user journey of the site.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working to address the issues identified in the ‘Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations’ section above. We will prioritise our efforts to address the issues with the highest impact on users. We are working to develop an accessibility roadmap to show how and when we plan to improve accessibility for blog websites on this domain.