Accessibility statement for the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment website

This is an accessibility statement for the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment website. It applies to all content available from the ukscqa.org.uk domain.

This website is run by the Office for Students. 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 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

The text on the website is sometimes about complex regulations, but we have written it in clear English and made it as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

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

  • The site search is missing a button in its form element.
  • Some links on the site can be identified by colour only.
  • On some pages HTML is used to format content.
  • Some iFrames are missing a title.
  • The same ‘read more’ link text in the news pages is used for multiple different destinations and is too generic in its context.
  • Several elements on the homepage of the site use the same element ID.
  • In several instances the colour contrast of text against its background is insufficient.
  • When navigating the main menu links using a keyboard the links do not highlight on focus.
  • Most PDFs published before September 2020 do not meet all the accessibility standards.

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:

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, email the Office for Student’s digital publishing team or call our general enquiries line on 0117 931 7317.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Office for Students is committed to making this 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 and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • The site search is missing a button in its form element. This fails WCAG 2.1A 3.2.2 On Input.
  • Some links on the site can be identified by colour only. This fails WCAG 2.1A 1.4.1 Use of Colour.
  • On some pages HTML is used to format content. This fails WCAG 2.1A 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.
  • Some iFrames are missing a title. This fails WCAG 2.1A 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.
  • The same ‘read more’ link text in the news pages is used for multiple different destinations and is too generic in its context. This fails WCAG 2.1A 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and WCAG 2.1A 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).
  • Several elements on the homepage of the site use the same element ID. This fails WCAG 2.1A 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.
  • In several instances the colour contrast of text against its background is insufficient. This fails WCAG 2.1AA 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum).
  • When navigating the main menu links using a keyboard the links do not highlight on focus. This fails WCAG 2.1AA 2.4.7 Focus Visible.

We are planning to upgrade the website for UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment and will address all the issues above by January 2021.

Disproportionate burden

Many of the PDFs available on the website published before September 2020 are not fully accessible. They may, for example, have missing alternative text or bookmarks.

The digital publishing team at the Office for Students is small and works routinely with a heavy publishing workload. Given the volume of files in question, we judge that the burden of updating all these PDFs would undermine the team’s ability to carry out the essential business of the organisation.

We will however:

  • make sure all PDFs we publish from September 2020 meet the accessibility standards
  • correct any PDF published before September 2020 at an individual’s request. To request a correction, email the digital publishing team or call 0117 931 7317.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 22 September 2020.

This website was last tested on 22 September. The test was carried out by the Office for Students using the website governance tool, Siteimprove.

Using Siteimprove, we have tested all pages across the website. We run weekly crawls of the website, and will update this statement each month as any issues are resolved or identified.