Accessibility Statement

We want as many people as possible to be able to use and understand our website. Our accessibility commitment includes making sure that our website visitors can:

  • easily understand our web pages by making the content as simple as possible

  • zoom in up to 300% on a webpage 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).

 

How accessible this website is

Some parts of our website are not fully accessible. For example:

  • Some images may lack alternative text
  • Some critical ARIA roles may be missing or incorrect
  • Colour contrast may not be strong enough in some places

 

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format, email cehwebsupport@ceh.ac.uk

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

 

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 cehwebsupport@ceh.ac.uk

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

UKCEH is committed to making its website accessible. This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to certain non-compliances and exemptions.

 

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Some images don’t have a text alternative, so the information 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 December 2022. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards
  • The colour chosen to highlight links on the website does not provide sufficient contrast for those with visual challenges. We will enhance the contrast for link text on all web pages by June 2022
  • Main navigation around the website is not currently possible using a keyboard and not a mouse/trackpad. We will ensure that all pages are navigable with a keyboard by December 2022
  • Not all of our embedded YouTube video iframes have title attributes. We will correct this by June 2022 and ensure any future videos are correctly attributed
  • Where web graphics also act as links (search icon, social media links, etc.) not all of these have alternative text. We will make sure that all graphics as links have alternative text by June 2022
  • Correct generic ARIA labels for links. By December 2022 we will have checked and corrected the ARIA labels for all links, particularly in Views, and make sure they read the target title correctly
  • Date format compatibility. We will ensure that dates are properly formatted across the website so screen readers can cope with them

Additional activities

In addition to the non-compliance issues we will review existing content as it is edited for accessibility issues, including:

  • How and when we present scientific data as an image
  • The use of Infographics – aiming to produce an accessible alternative
  • Captions on videos – ensuring that these are always available and accessible

We commit to providing in-house training for editors on content accessibility by April 2022.

 

Disproportionate burden

In some cases content is embedded from third party sources such as Twitter and mapping services. We cannot control these elements as they are provided “as is” by the external service, so in such cases - where we cannot source an alternative, more accessible service - we are obliged to accept the mark-up provided.

Some of our PDFs and Microsoft Office documents may not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be marked up so they are accessible to a screen reader. These include historic documents.

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We asked Code Enigma to test the accessibility of the site for compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 as part of an external auditing programme. They used a sample of pages. These pages were selected by UKCEH based on their importance and utilisation.

We have also commissioned Code Enigma to test a variety of websites, portals and smartphone apps that reflect the breadth of our science. This auditing exercise will be completed by the end of 2022. We commit to implement all the necessary changes by December 2022.

As we continue to develop the UKCEH website and its content, we will re-audit and test the website for accessibility on a regular basis.

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This website was last tested on 29 April 2021.

This statement was prepared on 27 September 2021.