Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Gloucestershire College website (https://www.gloscol.ac.uk).

This website is run by Gloucestershire College. 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 200% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• 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 some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• live video streams do not have captions
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page

Feedback and contact information

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

• email webaccessibility@gloscol.ac.uk
• call 0345 155 2020
• We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 2 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us 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: webaccessibility@gloscol.ac.uk or 0345 155 2020.

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 or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us here.

If you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Gloucestershire 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

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Images

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards. During the rebuild of our website all images will have text alternatives.

Navigation and accessing information

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. In our rebuild this will be addressed. 

The mobile menu has issues accessing with a keyboard. In our rebuild this will be addressed. 

Carousels

Buttons on carousels may not be announced by screen readers. In our rebuild this will be addressed.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag. In our rebuild our forms will be fully accessible. 

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. PDF documents that are currently missing information to make them fully accessible will be updated during the content population of our new website rebuild. 

Social Share Icons

Social share icons beneath navigation are supplied by a third party (ShareThis) and are known to have an accessibility issue. This plugin will not be used on our new website. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are in the process of completely rebuilding our website from the ground up and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility will be at the forefront of all aspect of development and content population. This is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of 2023. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 24th March, 2023. It was last reviewed on 24th March, 2023.

This website was first tested on 22nd September, 2020. The test was carried out by Gloucestershire College. Based on results of that test a number of improvements were made. Key pages were further tested in November, 2022 and further improvements have been made. 

The college is regularly updating the accessibility of our systems and we are currently reviewing all areas of non compliance. This document will be updated when our redesigned website is launched in the third quarter of 2023.