Accessibility statement for Carmel College (https://www.carmel.ac.uk/)

This statement was prepared on 08/02/2023.

This website was tested on 29/11/22. The test was carried out by the website accessibility monitoring team at the Government Digital Service, which is part of the Cabinet Office. A further test by Voodoo Agency on 03/02/23.

This statement covers the website www.carmel.ac.uk

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

General website accessibility

The website has been designed to be accessible to all web users, irrespective of individual abilities. The website has been designed and is maintained to work accessibly on modern versions of the most popular browsers.

This website is run by Carmel College. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen (as per accessibility guidelines WCAG 2.1)
  • 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)
  • We have 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 is this website

This accessibility statement applies to Carmel College (https://www.carmel.ac.uk/).

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

  • Focus visibility is of poor colour contrast in a number of areas throughout the website.
  • The keyboard becomes lost when tabbing through the menu when the menu has not been opened.
  • Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
  • Some tables do not have row headings.
  • There is poor colour contrast on a handful of pages and sections throughout the website reducing the readability of the text.
  • Some links are not distinguishable without relying on colour alone.

Alternative formats

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, or audio recording contact:

Marketing Manager
Email – info@carmel.ac.uk
Call – 01744 452 200

Mail requests are to be sent to Carmel College, Prescot Road, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 3AG.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 7 days. We do not currently produce braille transcripts but if you contact the college we will find a way to provide the information.

Feedback and contact information

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:

Marketing Manager
Email – info@carmel.ac.uk
Call 01744 452 200

Mail requests are to be sent to Carmel College, Prescot Road, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 3AG.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide an email service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Find out how to contact us https://www.carmel.ac.uk/contact-us/.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Carmel College 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content – non-compliance with regulations

We formally test the accessibility of key user journeys that represent the breadth of content across our website on a regular basis against WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Some parts of the website may not work for everyone. Below are known issues that we either need to fix, cannot fix, or do not need to fix right now.

WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible

  • Home/ Student support- The focus becomes lost after tabbing from the envelope in the banner at the top of the webpage
  • All pages- The keyboard becomes lost tabbing through the menu when the menu has not been opened.

These issues are expected to be resolved by the end of April 2023.

WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)

  • All pages- There is poor colour contrast when the mouse hovers over links for High achieves, Future professionals, Open events and Campus map. This becomes white text on a bright orange background.
  • Home- There is also poor colour contrast when the mouse hovers over links in the carousel at the top of the webpage. This is still an issue. Text in the carousel has poor colour contrast when hovered over. The titles become dark orange text and this does not have sufficient colour contrast on a background image. This includes the text: ‘One of the top three sixth form colleges’.

These issues are expected to be resolved by the end of April 2023.

WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: Links must have discernible text (Axe)

  • News section – This refers to links within all images on the webpage.

These issues are expected to be resolved by the end of April 2023.

WCAG 1.4.1 Links that are not visually evident without colour

  • Home – This refers to the notice ‘here’ button.
  • Student support and well-being- This refers to ‘Read the statement here’ and ‘Additional learning support page’.

These issues are expected to be resolved by the end of April 2023.

WCAG 2.1 1.1.1 (non-text content)

  • Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information.

We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2023. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.

  • Resolving this issue would require a complete redesign of the header and navigation. This issue occurs on small screen sizes (mobile screen sizes) when the device is viewed horizontally. Resolving this issue would require the use of most of the remaining years’ technical support budget to cater for a small percentage of use cases. While it is the intention to resolve this issue and make it easier to view content under these circumstances we are prioritising other accessibility improvements at this stage that will cater for more of the users of the website.

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.

  • Resolving this issue would require updates to styles for multiple layouts/templates. This issue occurs on smaller screen sizes or larger screen sizes when increasing the size of the text by 400% or more. Resolving this issue would require the use of most of the remaining years’ technical support budget to cater for a small percentage of use cases. While it is the intention to improve upon this issue and allow adjusting text sizes to larger sizes we are prioritising other accessibility improvements at this stage that will cater for more of the users of the website.

Non-accessible Content – the content is not within the scope of the applicable legislation

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2023, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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. For example, we do not plan to fix https://www.carmel.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/TRAVELLING-TO-CARMEL-COLLEGE-18-19-updated-31.08.18.pdf

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

Live video

Some videos may not feature subtitles, or audio descriptions, or offer a written transcript.

Videos uploaded will include subtitles and we will update video content that has been uploaded since regulations came into force as we continue to review pages.

We use YouTube to embed videos onto the website. We are not responsible for the accessibility of YouTube or other video platforms.

Third-party content

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

  • Links to other websites.
  • Content/functionality on our website.
  • Content hosted on other websites such as social media sites and embedded as widgets.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

  • On-going monthly accessibility reports to identify any compliance issues and resolve issues found.
  • Any new PDFs or Word documents will meet accessibility standards. HTML alternatives to documents will be a preferred option moving forward.
  • The use of the ‘Userway’ accessibility WordPress plugin to enhance the website for people with specific accessibility needs will be trialled.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 08/02/2022. It was last reviewed on 15/03/2023.

This website was last tested on 03/02/23. The test was carried out by Voodoo Agency. Voodoo Agency uses both automated software and manual checks to carry out the audit. The service used by our Voodoo Agency to assess compliance is called AccessiBe.

The next audit is scheduled for September 2023.