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Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the University Centre Quayside (UCQ) website.

UCQ are committed to making this website as accessible as possible. We ensure content is available to users with physical or sensory impairments and who use assistive technology including screen readers.  To adapt the content to your needs or preferences you should be able to:

Change colours, contrast levels and fonts.

Resize text up to 300% without impact on the functionality of the website.

Zoom in up to 400% without loss of information or functionality.

Navigate the website using just a keyboard.

Navigate the website using a screen reader to:

  • listen to the content of web pages and use any functionality on the page.
  • list the headings and subheadings in the page and then jump to their location on the page.
  • bring up a list of meaningful links on the page.

Download learning materials in alternative formats (e.g. Word document, PDF, ePub, audio) where available.

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.

Accessibility Tools

Every effort has been made to ensure our website is accessible across a range of platforms.  We strongly recommend, however, you upgrade your browser to the latest version for enhanced experience.

How accessible is our website?

We strive to ensure high accessibility standards. However, we know some elements are not fully accessible:

  • You may not be able to modify spacing or line height
  • Some third-party content not created by UCQ.
  • Sites linked from UCQ pages but not run by UCQ.

Some content created in lectures, workshops or tutorials.

  • Older PDFs and Word documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software.
  • Some videos do not contain captions.
  • The colour contrast for some text and some interface components (for example search boxes, check boxes) is not sufficient.

We aim to provide accessible alternative content or activities where we can.

Feedback and contact information

If you find that a certain section of our website is not accessible and you can’t get access to the information that you need please contact UCQ at:

ITsupport@ucq.ac.uk

You will need to provide your contact details and student number if you are a student so we can get back to you. You should expect to hear back from us within 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website 

We’re always looking to improve accessibility to this website. If you find a problem, or you think we’re not meeting the requirements of the current accessibility regulations (Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018), please use contact us at the email above.

We will ask you for the web address (URL) of the page and a description of the problem. We will also ask for your name and email address so that we can contact you about your feedback. We will consider your request and contact you within 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 are not happy with our response and all our procedures have been exhausted, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

If you are a student and have a complaint about the accessibility of our websites, you can raise a complaint using our Complaints Policy – click here.

If you are neither a student, nor someone who has had contact with the University before and have a complaint about the accessibility of our website, you should go directly to the EASS.

Contacting us

If you wish to discuss anything not outlined above, please contact us at enquiries@ucq.ac.uk where we will respond to your query within 5 working days.

Technical information about the website’s accessibility.

UCQ 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, our other websites listed above and our SharePoint sites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard

Non accessible content  

The vast majority of content elements in our websites are accessible and do not contain the problems below. This has been confirmed by internal testing and auditing.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Limitations of technology

Some online activities cannot be made fully accessible (e.g. categorising an image). Wherever practical, an alternative activity will be provided.

The level of accessibility during live events is limited. We are working closely with third-party suppliers and improving our internal systems to improve accessibility during live events.

UCQ provides links to external websites that may not meet accessibility standards.

PDF and Word documents

Word and PDFs or other documents that are not essential to providing our services and were published before 23rd September 2018 are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We are working to ensure that any new PDFs or other documents that we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Enlarging content

When text is resized up to 200% using settings in the browser (zoom or font size) some text may become unreadable because it is truncated or overlapped by other content.

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

The following types of content may not always be accessible, and they are not included within the scope of the accessibility regulation.

Video and audio

Wherever possible we provide transcripts for audio, and captions, audio descriptions and transcripts for video. Sometimes these alternatives are not available. Pre-recorded time-based media published before 23rd September 2020 is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Live audio and video

Adding captions to all live video streams is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Third party content not within UCQ control

Third party content that is not funded, developed by, or under the control of UCQ is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

As we develop our website and digital services, we strive to ensure that they are accessible and comply with the current legislation. We also review and audit older sites to identify what changes we need to make to improve accessibility.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17 May 2021.

The UCQ website is regularly tested to include navigation, readability and accessibility of content.

The pages were chosen to be representative of different types of content. This testing will continue to be carried out across the digital platforms to ensure UCQ is constantly monitoring and improving accessibility.