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Accessibility statement for HESA.ac.uk

This accessibility statement applies to the HESA website:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/

This website is run by HESA. We want as many people as possible to be able to use our 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, VoiceOver and TalkBack)

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

How accessible this website is

Overall, our website is accessible in parts and most customers should be able to use the site. We are aware, however, of a number of issues that may affect the accessibility for some of our users:  

  • Functional images and charts are missing descriptive alt texts
  • Colour is often the only way to distinguish different categories in charts
  • Colour contrast of some buttons and non-text elements is insufficient
  • Incorrect heading structure
  • Duplicate navigation ARIA landmark
  • Form labels are not programmatically associated with form fields
  • Checkboxes are not programmatically grouped
  • Radio buttons are not programmatically grouped
  • Some accordions are not implemented correctly
  • The purpose of buttons and in-text links is not always clear
  • There are a number of HTML5 validation errors
  • Most .pdfs are not accessible

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:

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

More contact information

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, contact us.

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

HESA is committed to making the HESA 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. We are currently reviewing all these instances of non-compliance and working to resolve them.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Page design

Functional and informative images, including charts, are missing descriptive alt text so screen reader users may be unable to discern their purpose or the information they convey. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). We plan to add suitably descriptive alternative text that will be accessible to screen reader users by October 2021 (images) and October 2021 (charts).

Some chart elements/categories are only distinguished by a change in colour, which may be imperceivable to people with visual impairment or colour blindness. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour). We plan to ensure that all chart elements have additional distinguishing characteristics by October 2021.

Colour contrast is insufficient on some buttons and chart elements making it hard from some people to understand some content/functionality. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)) and 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast). We plan to address all of the contrast issues by October 2021.

Page structure

Heading elements are not always used correctly, which can make it difficult for some users to discern the structure of the webpage. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships). We plan to resolve this by October 2021.

Form labels are not programmatically associated with form fields, so screen reader users will struggle to understand the structure of the forms and what is required in each field. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). We plan to ensure that all form labels are correctly associated with the fields by August 2021.

Checkboxes and radio buttons are not programmatically grouped together, which means that screen reader users will not be able to understand how the different options are related and grouped. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). We plan to resolve these issues by August 2021 (radio buttons) and October 2021 (checkboxes).

Some accordions are not implemented correctly so they are not keyboard operable and are not announced correctly by a screen reader. This means both sighted keyboard users and screen reader users will have difficulty accessing the information contained within the accordions. This fails WCAG success criteria 2.1.1 (Keyboard) and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). We plan to resolve this by October 2021.

Navigation, links and buttons

The purpose of some buttons and in-text links is not clear from the button/link text alone, so screen reader users navigating from link to link or listing the links on a page will not be able to work out what they are for. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)). We plan to clarify all links by October 2021.

Parsing

When the homepage is run through the W3C HTML validator a number of errors and warnings are flagged with the html that may have an impact on how assistive technology interacts with the website. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.1 (Parsing). We plan to address these by October 2021.

Disproportionate burden

We have assessed the feasibility of fixing all the PDFs across our site published since September 2018. HESA has a small communications team and believes that, currently, fixing all PDFs would be a disproportionate burden because the internal resource required to make these fixes would come at a detriment to other, more urgent, accessibility work.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Newsletter sign up page

Our newsletter sign-up page is built and hosted through third-party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. We’ve assessed the feasibility of fixing the issues on this page and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations because, as a third-party application, we do not have direct access to the underlying code and cannot make the necessary changes. We have flagged the issues to the third-party provider to expedite a fix and will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal. Issues on this page include:

  • Heading structure is incorrect (1.3.1 Info and Relationships)
  • ‘Required’ stars have insufficient contrast (1.4.11 Non-text contrast)
  • There is no skip to content link on this page (2.4.1 Bypass Blocks)
  • The cookie policy is last in the focus order and obscures the page (2.4.3 Focus Order). We plan to resolve this issue by August 2021.

PDFs

A number of our PDFs are not fully accessible. We pledge to make all new PDFs published from June 2021 accessible and compliant with WCAG 2.1 to Level AA. Outstanding issues include:

  • Some PDFs are missing document titles (2.4.2 Headings and Labels)
  • They currently do not use the correct heading structure (1.3.1 Info & Relationships)
  • Some graphics and images are missing alt text (1.1.1 Non-text Content)
  • The reading and tabbing order is not always logical (2.4.3 Focus Order)
  • The colour contrast of some text within the PDFs is insufficient (1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)).

Google Charts

Some of our graphs are Google Charts that are dynamically generated and embedded on our website. We’ve assessed the feasibility of fixing the issues associated with these charts and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden. As a third-party application, we do not have direct access to the Google Charts underlying code and cannot make the necessary changes. The main issue with these elements is:

  • The labels are not programmatically associated with the dropdowns (4.1.2 Name, Role, Value)

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 May 2021 It was last reviewed on 28 May 2021.

This website was last tested on 5 May 2021. This website was tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA, and the test was carried out by Web Usability Partnership Ltd.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to decide on a sample of pages to test.