Accessibility Statement

Using this website

This accessibility statement exclusively covers the University of Chester corporate website hosted at www.chester.ac.uk. The university has several other websites and a mobile application, each of which is reviewed by the respective owners and has its own accessibility statements.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.

 For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
  • Navigate most of our online forms using just a keyboard

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

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

How accessible this website is

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible, for example:

  • some links and images do not have text alternatives
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible
  • live video streams, and most older videos, don’t have captions

Feedback and contact information

Please get in touch with us if you need information on this website in a different format by emailing webteam@chester.ac.uk, specifying the format you would like to request.

We’ll consider your request and reply within 10 working days.

If you are unable to view the maps provided on contact or course pages email enquiries@chester.ac.uk or call +44 (0)1244 511000 for directions.

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 webteam@chester.ac.uk with the details of the issues you have found and a link to the page this refers to.

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 unhappy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Chester 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 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.

Images, video and other multimedia

Not all our images have text alternatives, and some images are not coded as either meaningful or decorative. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). Not all pre-recorded video-only content is accompanied by an equivalent text or audio alternative. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.2.1 (Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)). Not all our pre-recorded multimedia content has captions. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.2.2 (Captions (Prerecorded)). There is also multimedia content without audio descriptions or media alternatives. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.2.3/1.2.5 (Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)/ Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)). We are reviewing the images, video and other multimedia as an ongoing improvement and due to the size of the site, we plan to correct these by 31st December 2024. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

PDFs

Some PDFs that were published after 23 September 2018 are missing a title. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page titled). We are reviewing the PDFs available on the website as an ongoing improvement and due to the size of the site, we plan to correct these by 31st December 2024. When we publish new PDFs, we’ll make sure these meet accessibility standards.

Links

The purpose of a link is not always described by its link text alone, or by the link text together with the preceding page context and some links may not receive focus. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. We are reviewing the links as an ongoing improvement and due to the size of the site, we plan to correct these by 30th June 2024. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of links meets accessibility standards.

Colour contrast

Some elements may not have sufficient colour contrast when an image background is used over text. This fails WCAG success criterion WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum). We are working to update all examples of insufficient colour contrast and are improving training on accessible content for website editors.

Cookie banner

The cookie consent banner is provided via a third-party widget, which currently fails WCAG success criterion WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow. At 400% zoom, the explanatory text and the 'Cookie policy' and 'Preferences' links in the cookie banner are no longer visible. 

The tool is provided by a third part under contract, the university does not have direct access to the design or codebase, which would be necessary to update the interactive chat tool to meet current obligations. We have contacted the third party and requested they make this change to their product.

Other third-party elements

Our site contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make our best endeavours to work with the third-party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

  • Links to non University of Chester websites
  • Content/functionality on our website
  • Content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites.

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

PDFs and other documents

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. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are committed to providing an online experience that is accessible to everyone.

To achieve this:

  • The University has formed an Accessibility Project group to define and execute our approach to accessibility across the organisation.
  • An accessibility action plan has been created to address accessibility issues and improve the university's approach to web accessibility.
  • Web content editors will receive further training to ensure new content is fully accessible, and new pages will be vetted to ensure they meet accessibility guidelines.
  • We are looking at automated testing tools which include daily reports on accessibility performance changes so we can react quickly and address new or recurring issues.
  • Non- accessible content on priority pages (those with key university information, interactive elements and content that is currently in use) is being reviewed and addressed first to ensure that pages that are relevant to our visitors are accessible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 12th February 2024 and last updated on Monday 19th August. This website was tested during its development (July 2023 - February 2024) with additional tests in July 2024. The tests were carried out by the University of Chester Web Team, TerminalFour and BloomDigital using automated testing tools (Axe Dev Tools, WAVE WebAim) and manual checks including keyboard navigation, screen reader (VoiceOver) and viewing pages at different zoom settings.

The website will be tested again in December 2024 to review the above improvements.