Accessibility Statement for Westminster Connect

Scope and ownership

This accessibility statement applies to the Westminster Connect website. The Alumni Relations team within the Business Engagement Directorate is responsible for the digital accessibility of this website.

Using the website

This website is run by the University of Westminster. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, which means that you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (most well-known screen readers)

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

For more advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability, visit the AbilityNet website.

Accessibility of the website

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible and have listed the issues according to level of impact, from high to low:

Higher priority issues

  • Some elements are inoperable by using the keyboard alone. This will make navigating the site difficult or impossible for some users
  • Some form controls are not correctly associated with the respective visual labels. Assistive technology users might need to navigate around the controls to understand their purpose
  • There are elements with insufficient colour contrast. These elements can be difficult to read, especially for those with low vision, poor eyesight, or colour blindness
  • Some interactive elements are not labelled correctly or do not have useful instructions. Users may not understand what the purpose of the element is
  • Some interactive elements lack a visible focus indicator. Users who rely on keyboard might lose track of the navigation
  • Some images used as buttons and links lack a descriptive text alternative. Users might not be aware of their purpose
  • Users cannot skip repetitive content on the page, as no skip links are provided

Lower priority issues

  • There are some instances of skipped heading levels. This may cause issues for users of assistive technology who use the heading order to understand the page structure
  • Some elements cannot be resized with browser settings. Users relying on browser text resize might have difficulties reading the content on the pages
  • Some hidden elements can receive focus. Keyboard-only users depend on meaningful focus order and may be confused by focus on elements they can't interact with
  • Some elements overlap when the user changes the text spacing in the browser. This may cause some users to miss important information

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, please visit our digital accessibility contact us webpage for information on how to request this.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We have tested a sample of pages on the website. If you find an issue we have not yet identified, you can report it to us. We’ll pass this information to the website owner who will review the issue, make sure it is included in our plan to fix issues and add it into the accessibility statement when it is next updated.
Please visit our digital accessibility contact us webpage for information on how to report an accessibility problem.

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).

Ways to contact us

You can contact us by email or phone. If you prefer to visit us in person, get in touch and we’ll advise on which teams are available to meet with you.

Information on how to contact us is available on our digital accessibility contact us webpage.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance status

This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Heading structure is illogical - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Multiple instances of divs acting as buttons without appropriate tagging -† (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Header nav elements have no visible focus indicator (WCAG 2.1 - 2.4.7)
  • Hidden elements receive focus but are not visible (WCAG 2.1 - 2.4.3)
  • Drop down child menus in the left column cannot be accessed by keyboard alone without loading another page (WCAG 2.1 - 2.1.1)
  • What's on your mind element cannot be accessed by keyboard alone - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.1.1)
  • Post edit popup controls, except the textarea and post button cannot be accessed by keyboard at all - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.1.1)
  • Close button for popup is not keyboard accessible - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.1.1)
  • No skip links exist to either get to the main content or past the infinite scroll main content to the right-hand column (WCAG 2.1 - 2.4.1)
  • Multiple elements use placeholder text rather than labels - (WCAG 2.1 - 3.3.2)
  • Text cannot be resized with browser settings (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.4)
  • Some post images are missing alt attributes (WCAG 2.1 - 1.1.1)
  • Recent members link list images have generic alt text (WCAG 2.1 - 1.1.1)
  • Reflow causes horizontal scrolling and loss of functionality - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.10)
  • Multiple elements fail text contrast (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.3)
  • Page title does not change with page - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.4.2)
  • heading structure with missing levels - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • People list not marked up as <ul> or <ol> -† (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Companies in your network links are not accessible by keyboard - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.1.1)
  • Multiple elements have no visible focus indicator (WCAG 2.1 - 2.4.7)
  • Filter by inputs are not associated with a label - (WCAG 2.1 - 3.3.2)
  • Text cannot be resized with browser settings (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.4)
  • Careers at Westminster image has generic non-descriptive alt text† (WCAG 2.1 - 1.1.1)
  • Site reflows but some content is cut off - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.10)
  • Text spacing causes content to be cut off - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.12)
  • 90 roundall fails minimum contrast. - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.3)
  • Multiple instances of divs actiing as buttons without appropriate tagging -† (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Album card list is not semantically marked up as a list -† (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Album items are not semantically marked up as a buttons or links -† (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Visual headings are not marked up as such - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.3.1)
  • Multiple elements do not have visible focus indication - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.4.7)
  • Album elements are not accessible by keyboard alone - (WCAG 2.1 - 2.1.1)
  • There are no accessible instructions for creating album trigger - (WCAG 2.1 - 3.3.2)
  • Image checkbox labels have no accessible name and span where this would live is hidden from AT - (WCAG 2.1 - 3.3.2)
  • Multiple instances of images with generic alt of album photo
  • Multiple instances of text failing contrast - (WCAG 2.1 - 1.4.3)

If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Reporting accessibility problems with this website’ section of this statement.

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims.

Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulation

Extranet and intranet sites

We are reviewing the accessibility of the contents of this intranet site and plan to fix issues incrementally until this website undergoes a substantial revision. The content of extranets and intranets published before 23 September 2019 is exempt from meeting the accessibility requirements until the site undergoes a substantial revision.

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.

We are working to review the PDFs and Word documents that are essential to providing our services. We’ll either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish after 23 September 2020 will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 7 April 2022.

This website was last tested on 21 September 2020. The test was carried out by AbilityNet. A sample of webpages was tested covering the core user-journey of the site.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working to address the issues identified in the ‘Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations’ section above. We will prioritise our efforts to address the issues with the highest impact on users. We are working to develop an accessibility roadmap to show how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website.

The University contracts with an external supplier, Graduway, to provide this website. Therefore, some of these issues are not within our control to address. We will raise these issues with the supplier and work with them to find solutions, where possible. Graduway have their own accessibility statement which can be found on their website.