Accessibility statement
This accessibility statement applies to the New College Swindon website [www.newcollege.ac.uk] as the main website for the college. It does not apply to content on subdomains.
This website is run by New College Swindon. 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:
- 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)
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 are not fully accessible:
- Some PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
- Course details content is not fully semantic, and some heading elements are not consistent.
- Not all videos are completely accessible.
- Not all images have alt-text.
What to do if you have problems accessing the site?
If you need information on this website in a different format then please:
We’ll consider your request and get back to you.
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, please email ncsmarketing@newcollege.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
New College Swindon 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 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
Course details
Most of the course details content has incorrect formatting and no consistent page structure.
- This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
- This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose
- This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.6 Headings and Labels
We plan to resolve these issues by ensuring all course details content is semantic and has a clear page structure.
The website also contains a range of different third-party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, or partner we work with, where we are not responsible for the accessibility of this content.
All course content will have correct format and be made accessible in line with the next roll out of course listings and the launch of the new website by November 2023.
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.
PDF unique views within the last year were 207, making up only 0.02% of all page views on the website.
As PDF documents are moved over from the old website to the new one, they will all be checked and either updated or converted to a HTML version, to meet the accessibility standards. Any that cannot be made accessible will be highlighted in the new websites accessibility statement.
Issues with images, video and audio
There is unnecessary or unhelpful alt text on some images, especially where abstract collages are used. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
We are working to correct these. We are currently working through all the images on our website and plan to have appropriate alt text in place for all images by May 2023.
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 - pre-recorded).
Not all videos have edited, synchronised captions, which does not meet WCAG success criterion 1.2.2 (captions - pre-recorded) – in these instances, a downloadable transcript will be available instead.
We do not currently provide audio descriptions for all pre-recorded video content. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5 (audio description -pre-recorded).
The non-compliance issues with video will be resolved as part of the development of a new website. Complete by November 2023.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations: Third-party tools
YouTube
We embed YouTube videos 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.
Non-accessible Content - the content is not within the scope of the applicable legislation
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages. It will be completed in line with new website launch, by November 2023.
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.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Disproportionate burden
External accessibility audit of this website
We are currently developing a new website. We have gone out to tender, selected a website agency, user research and development is under way. We are currently working to a completion and website relaunch of November 2023.
Accessibility testing will be a key part of this project in order to make sure that it is compliant from the start. With this in mind, it is not an efficient use of time and money to conduct an additional accessibility audit on our current website, if this site will be defunct within the next 8 months.
As part of the roll-out of the new website, we will agree a timeline for monthly internal accessibility checks, along with an external audit once a year. Budget will be made available for this audit and is in the process of being approved.
We expect this disproportionate burden to apply for no longer that 10 months.
How we tested this website
This website was last tested on Thursday 21st March 2023. The test was carried out using Chrome's Lightspeed and the Axe accessibility tool, in addition to some manual checks.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
- Scheduling monthly website reviews to include assessment for accessibility issues.
- Ensure all course details content is formatted correctly and semantic.
- Update essential PDF documents. Complete by November 2023.
- Existing PDFs will be run through the Adobe Acrobat accessibility checker and adjusted accordingly.
- We are also rolling out training to all staff across the College, as part of CPD, to ensure that document content production can be made accessible within the scope of the tools being used.
- Setting up a more robust procedure for website content creation. This includes the following:
- Specific training on the CMS tool and accessibility procedures for all new staff involved with content creation.
- Supply of a guide to ensure our approach to making content accessible is a priority and consistently implemented.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on Monday 5th October 2020. It was last reviewed and changed on Thursday 23rd March 2023.