Using this website
The IT Service Centre website is run by the University of Derby. We want as many people as possible to be able to use the site and are committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Zoom text to at least 200% without it spilling off screen
- Navigate using just a keyboard
- Use the website with a screen reader
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. AbilityNet is a UK charity that exists to change the lives of disabled people by helping them to use digital technology at work, at home or in education.
Measures to support accessibility
We are using the following measures to ensure accessibility of the University of Derby website:
- We include accessibility within our internal policies
- We assign clear accessibility targets and responsibilities
- We employ formal accessibility quality assurance methods
We tested our website for accessibility during the design process, for example with a partially sighted student, and we carry out similar testing on the live site.
How accessible is our website?
We know some parts of this website aren't fully accessible:
- You can’t modify line height or spacing of text
- PDF documents aren't fully accessible to screen reader software
- Videos don't have captions
- Some decorative images have duplicate alternative text that is the same as adjacent text or links
- Visibly hidden content receives focus
- Custom controls incorrectly communicated
- Layout tables are not marked up to communicate their use for presentation purposes
- Some native and custom form elements are missing valid labels
- Some inserted images do not always have a text equivalent
- Heading structure is not always logical including plain text that should not be marked up as headings
- There are instances where inline errors are not being associated to their respective fields
- Files that have been uploaded have no accessible name
- Text field only announces “Message” rather than the visible text of “Write a Message”
- The title attribute is used to communicate information that is not accessible via the keyboard
- No skip link to jump past repeated navigation elements to the main content
- Focus moves to top of page when closing the Edit My Profile dialog
- The Close control used in many dialogs does not have a meaningful alternative
- Links that spawn the dialogs do not indicate that fact
- Focus is moved to top of page and content refreshed when moving through custom options with the keyboard
- Some forms do not indicate any errors
- Displayed errors aren’t always clear and no information provided to fix the error
- Some native and custom form elements are missing valid labels
- Inline errors are not linked to the correct fields
- The mandatory fields are not explained at the beginning of some forms
- Aria-selected is used on HTML elements that do not support this
- Customer Satisfactions Ratings do not provide a status update
- Some popup menus do not convey their state and role
We are engaging with our supplier to improve our current website and resolve the issues listed.
What to do if you can't access parts of this website or have a complaint
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.
If you have any issues with inaccessible content or are unable to obtain an accessible version, or you feel the need to complain about our site and content accessibility, please contact us in the first instance by:
You can contact us about any issues, for example, if you:
- Need information in a different format such as, large print, easy read, audio recording
- Find any problems that are not listed on this page
- Think we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in five working days.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint after following the process set out above, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about our website's accessibility
The University of Derby is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
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
The Content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
While text can be zoomed or magnified, it is not possible for users to modify text spacing or line height. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 (text spacing). We are looking at a solution to this issue.
Some images don’t have a text alternative, so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Disproportionate burden
Navigation and accessing information
There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option). This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks). We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issue and we believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations.
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential for active administration purposes relating to tasks we perform as a Public Body. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Video captions
Some of our older videos don't have accurate edited captions or transcripts. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only pre-recorded), 1.2.2 (captions pre-recorded), 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative pre-recorded) and 1.2.5 (audio description pre-recorded). The regulations do not apply to recorded videos published before 23 September 2020. However, while these videos are not subject to the legislation, we have carried out an audit of all our videos and have begun a process of updating captions and adding full transcripts. Any new videos we publish will have edited captions and transcripts.
Additional accessibility considerations
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define three levels of conformance: level A, level AA and level AAA. Although our goal is WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, we have also applied some level AAA success criteria as follows:
- Images of text are only used for pure decoration or where a particular presentation of text is essential to the information being conveyed
- We are adding full transcripts to our videos [when by/as they are updated]
- The purpose of each link can be identified from link text alone, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general
How we tested this website
This website was last tested on 7 October 2019. The test was carried out on a sample of pages by IT Service Centre Analysts using Accessibility Insights.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We have a rolling programme of updating content in accordance with the guidelines set out by the WCAG.
This statement was prepared on 17 January 2020. It was last updated on 17 January 2020.
Accessibility statement updates log
Going forward, we will be logging all the changes we make to the page, including dates and what has changed.
Website accessibility information form
You can also contact us via our central feedback form.
Submit an accessibility support request