Accessibility statement

The University of York is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.york.ac.uk domain. It does not apply to content on other york.ac.uk subdomains.

Development of this website is coordinated by the Communications team in the Directorate of External Relations. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. On most pages on the website you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 500% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate using just a keyboard
navigate using speech recognition software
listen to content using a screen reader.

AbilityNet’s My Computer My Way pages have advice on adjustments you can make to your computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone to make it easier to use.

University of York staff and students can also use Sensus Access to convert PDFs and other files into an ebook, text file, audio or braille.

Other accessibility statements

Some parts of the website run on different systems, which may have different accessibility features or issues and their own accessibility statements:

We will link to further statements as they are developed.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible.

Some information is only available in PDF format, and hasn’t been designed for accessibility.
Carousels cannot be operated using a keyboard alone.
Live video streams do not have captions.
Our online store is difficult to navigate using a keyboard and there is a CAPTCHA in the registration process which does not have an accessible alternative.
The main website navigation menu on some pages features a ‘More…’ link and sub-menu which when accessed using the keyboard is not in the logical order a user would expect
Interactive 360° visualisations using the Matterport platform are only partially accessible using a keyboard.

Feedback and contact information

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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, you can report an accessibility issue.

This website is administered by the Communications team within the External Relations directorate. If you have any queries about the website or need information provided in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email us at communications-support@york.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

In the first instance, University of York students and applicants unhappy with our response to reporting of an accessibility issue can follow our complaints 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

Compliance status

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Issues with text

Some pages have incorrect heading structures. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels).
Some links do not make sense when read out of context, using text such as ‘click here’. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose).
Some pages contain multiple links which use the same link text but point to different destinations. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose).
Some pages contain text which is not as simple as possible to understand. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.5 (Reading Level).

Issues with images

Some images which need a description do not have any alternative (alt) text, or have blank alt text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

The registration process in our online store contains a CAPTCHA which does not have an accessible alternative.

Some decorative images have alt text which should be blank or have inappropriate alt text, such as copyright information for the image.. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

Issues with tables

Some pages contain tables which do not have headers or use tables for layout purposes. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).

Issues with audio and video

Some videos do not have captions or use automatically generated captions which may be inaccurate. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 (Captions (Prerecorded)).
Some audio content (such as podcasts) does not have a transcript or other text equivalent. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 (Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)).

Issues with keyboard navigation

Image galleries and carousels cannot be navigated with a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
When using a keyboard to complete the checkout process on our online store, the order that elements receive focus when tabbing does not follow the visual flow of the page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
The main website navigation menu features a ‘More…’ link to reveal additional links when the list is long. The order that elements receive focus within this menu when tabbing does not follow the visual flow of the page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus order).
- As part of a redesign of core website templates, the main navigation menu will be rebuilt by September 2023 and will be tested to ensure it is accessible.

Issues with third-party tools

Some of our pages contain content from systems provided by an external supplier. We are aware of accessibility issues with some of these tools. We will be reporting such issues to suppliers and working with them to improve the accessibility of their tools.

360° visualisations using the Matterport platform are only partially accessible using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We have raised the issue with the supplier.
On web pages created using Google Sites, such as coronavirus.york.ac.uk, an invalid ARIA attribute (aria-selected=”true”) is included on menu links in some circumstances. We don’t believe this has a real-world impact on users, but it fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value: Elements must only use allowed ARIA attributes). We have raised the issue with the supplier.
Embedded Google Calendars cannot be navigated with a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).

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

Non-HTML documents published before September 2018 do not need to be accessible - unless users need them to use a service.

How we tested this website

We tested our website over several periods throughout 2019 and continue to monitor on an ongoing basis. We use a combination of methods to check our site:

Automated testing: we used Siteimprove, which scans our pages for accessibility errors, and lets us know which ones are the highest priority to fix. We also used other automated testing tools including WAVE and axe.
Manual testing: we used an accessibility checklist to manually check a representative sample of pages from across our website. This included checking that our pages can be navigated using only a keyboard, and testing any colour contrasts that could not be automatically checked.
User testing: we’ve been talking to people who have access needs, asking them to show us how they use the York website and the problems they face.
External review: we asked Jisc to carry out a review of our website. Their report highlighted what we’re already doing well and where there are things we need to improve.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our testing identified a range of issues with our templates that were affecting large numbers of pages across our website. Most of these issues have now been fixed.
We will be using Siteimprove more widely to identify and fix content issues which affect individual pages.
We are adding accessibility guidance to our training and documentation for staff who edit the website, including checklists to follow. Training on creating accessible documents is also available to staff.
An e-accessibility working group has been formed, with representation from services from around the University. The group is leading on several initiatives to make digital content easier for everyone to use.
We are moving our web content into newer templates which have accessibility features built into them from the start.
External suppliers of our online systems have been asked about the standards that their systems meet, and when they plan to meet the required standards if they do not already do so. All new system procurements will ask suppliers to provide information about accessibility standards.
We are ensuring that our development processes include accessibility considerations and testing as standard.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15 May 2020. It was last reviewed on 15 July 2022.