Accessibility statement for jisc.ac.uk

This statement applies to content published on www.jisc.ac.uk. It does not apply to content on service.jisc.ac.uk subdomains (for example, manage.jisc.ac.uk).

This website is run by Jisc. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. The text should be clear and simple to understand. You should be able to:

Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
Zoom in up to 400% without problems
Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
Use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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

How accessible is this website

We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:

Some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
We have issues with text colour contrast
We have issues with some interactive elements
We have some content issues
Not all videos are completely accessible

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille contact us:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you.

If you can’t view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, use the ‘spotted an issue?’ button at the foot of every page, or contact web@jisc.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you're not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

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’).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Jisc is committed to making its websites 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 non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Content

Some text and background combinations don’t have enough contrast - especially section ‘tags’. They don’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast - minimum). We are working on these.

Our older promotional links include adjacent links going to the same place, where a single link is needed. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose - in context). We are phasing out the pages that have these. This should be complete by the end of 2022.

Heading order doesn’t clearly reflect the structure of the page in some sections. This does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We are addressing these on a rolling basis.

Our footnote and abbreviations aren’t fully accessible to screen readers. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard). We plan to develop an alternative to our current footnote approach. We are investigating what can be done to improve our abbreviations.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish should meet accessibility standards.

Issues with images, video and audio

There is unnecessary or unhelpful alt text on some images, especially where diagrams are used. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We are working to correct these.

If a video has captions, we do not always provide a separate transcript or audio description as well. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only - prerecorded).

Not all videos have edited, synchronised captions, which does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.2.2 (captions - prerecorded) – in these instances, a downloadable transcript will be available instead.

We do not currently provide audio descriptions for all prerecorded video content. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5 (audio description -prerecorded).

Issues with interactive tools and transactions

There is inadequate context with some interfaces - especially around listing pages and pagination controls. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to redevelop the pages where this is an issue in 2022.

Role and state information is missing from some interactive elements on older pages. These do not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). Older pages will be retired or redeveloped in 2022.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). Some of these pages are due to be redeveloped in 2022, we will be reviewing the others and deciding whether to retire or remove them.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations: third-party tools

SlideShare

We use SlideShare on the site. We know there are some accessibility issues with these embedded players. You can click through to the SlideShare site where you can view or download the presentation - but there may be accessibility issues with these files. We don't have a suitable alternative and, as we don't control the platform, are unable to make the changes required to improve it. Please let us know if you would like an accessible version of any of our presentations and we will send one through to you.

YouTube and Google Maps

We embed YouTube videos and Google Maps on the site. We know there are accessibility issues with these features. We don't have accessible alternatives and, as we don't control the platform, are unable to make the changes required to improve them. Let us know if you would like an accessible version of any video we put live, or need accessible directions or location details and we will send them through to you.

Articulate

Our e-learning taster modules are built using the Articulate platform. We don't have a suitable alternative and, as we don't control the platform, are unable to make the changes required to improve it. We are aware of issues with element IDs that are not unique and that there are missing required WAI-ARIA states or properties. These are in Articulate’s development pipeline. Please let us know if you would like an accessible version of any of our e-learning taster modules and we will send one through to you.

Hotjar

We use Hotjar to better understand our users’ needs and optimise the experience of this website. We don't have a suitable alternative and, as we don't control the platform, are unable to make the changes required to improve it. We are aware of a number of accessibility issues - particularly with buttons - detailed in full below.

Accessibility audit for Hotjar (4 October 2021)

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The button to open/close the survey panel has no text alternative. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content) [Level A]
The survey panel label does not have descriptive enough text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text content, level A) and 2.4.6 (Headings and labels) [Level AA]
The survey panel content is not included in an HTML5 or WAI-ARIA landmark. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships) [Level A]
The Hotjar branding link is not underlined. This fails WCAG 2.1 success Criterion 1.4.1 (Use of colour [Level A]
Disabled buttons have poor colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast - minimum) [Level AA] and WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text contrast) [Level AA]
When a user resizes text to 200% the size of text and controls do not change. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize text) [Level AA]
Radio buttons, checkboxes and textareas have poor colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text contrast) [Level AA]
The button to open/close the survey panel, radio buttons, checkboxes, textareas, the “Next” button, the “Skip” button, the “Close” button and the Hotjar brand link do not have a visible focus indicator. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus visible) [Level AA]
Radio buttons and checkboxes do not have a “name” attribute, so the accessible name does not match the visible label. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3 (Label in name) [Level A]
The button to submit each “screen” of the survey is not a form submit button. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.2.2 (On input) [Level A] and 4.1.2 (Name, role, value) [Level A]
The name and role of the button to open/close the survey panel cannot be programmatically determined. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role, value) [Level A]

How we tested this third party software

We assessed the Hotjar survey software tool against WCAG 2.1 AA using:

Manual techniques
Firefox accessibility inspector
SiteImprove browser extension for Chrome
Axe browser extension for Chrome, noting this was not capable of testing inside the Hotjar panel

Content that’s not within scope of the accessibility regulations

Older PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Live video

Live video streams don’t have captions. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live). We don’t plan to add captions to live video streams and live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Links to archived sites

Where services have closed we sometimes point to archived copies of old websites. There are likely to be issues with these copies. As snapshots taken by a third-party we wouldn't be able to update these. As archived sites however, they are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

How we tested this website

An in-depth accessibility audit was also conducted by the Shaw Trust in early 2020. We are working through their recommendations.

We tested our main website - jisc.ac.uk. Other service sites conduct their own testing and will have their own accessibility statements.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Whenever new features are released they go through our internal quality assurance checks and must meet WCAG 2.1 AA. We’re also committed to working on the issues above.

This statement was prepared on 2 August 2019. It was last updated on 19 April 2023.

Content modified from the GOV.UK accessibility statement - used through the Open Government Licence v3.0.