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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 let us know:
Report an accessibility problem
We'll try and respond as quickly as possible but this will be no more than 5 working days.
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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly.
Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)
The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:
Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website
Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language
British Sign Language service
contactSCOTLAND-BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
contactSCOTLAND-BSL service details
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1
Non accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations
The following items do not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria
- There is currently an empty button field that appears at smaller screen sizes that is part of the navigation.
- The footer heading font colour is not of a sufficient contrast to the background colour.
- The CMS login link font colour is not of a sufficient contrast to the background colour.
Additional issues
While we have a 'Skip to content' link on every page when new users access the website they will receive our cookie consent banner at the top of the page. This can't be skipped over as it's important to get consent for cookies to comply with the General Data Protection Regulations. We do not believe this to be an accessibility issue but it does mean that the site will fail some automated accessibility tests. Once a user has chosen their level of consent they will then be able to access the 'Skip to content' link.
Google reCAPTCHA causes an accessibility error due to a missing label. We have researched and explored ways to fix this but have unfortunately not found a solution. We have tested with a screen reader and different browsers and it is still possible to interact with and solve the reCAPTCHA. Also using the audio test to solve additional verification works with a screen reader. It worked especially well using the Chrome browser. We have tried to leave this out completely but some forms get repeatedly attacked so it's not possible to run this without the captcha in place.
We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility.
Disproportionate burden
We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.
Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
There are currently no accessibility problems with the site that we would consider to be out of scope.
What we're doing to improve accessibility
- We use a design framework which is stable and has been tested for accessibility issues. This cuts down, but doesn't totally remove, the risk of web editors adding design elements that are not accessible.
- The University has a published web strategy and governance approach.
- Support, guidance and training process in place for all University staff to increase awareness of accessibility and what our responsibilities are.
Accessibility improvements
Accessibility improvements, bug fixes and development work to fix issues will be recorded to keep a record of work completed.
Accessibility improvements
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 01/04/2022.
This website was last tested in 01/04/2022. The test was carried out by the Website and Communications team.
We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test
While the website was last tested on 01/042022 there is also a monthly auditing process of the wider website. Tests are carried out using a set of automated auditing tools. We also run some of our own reports using WebAIM WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. The testing is followed by manual prioritisation of any issues with key user journeys.
Design framework
The central University of Edinburgh website uses a design framework. This framework was built with accessibility in mind from the outset. All the page and design elements for the website are run from the framework.
