This accessibility statement applies to the website found at the URL: https://understandingsociety.ac.uk/
This website is run by Understanding Society. 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 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
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:
- you cannot modify the spacing of text
- some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- live video streams do not have captions
- some of our videos do not have captions
- some of our online forms can be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- some of our pages can be difficult to navigate with a screen reader
Feedback and contact information
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or you think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us.
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact Becky Parsons, Associate Director Communications and Engagement:
- email info@understandingsociety.ac.uk
- telephone: 01206 873864
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).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Understanding Society 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
Some of our text has a low contrast between text and its background, so people with moderately low vision (who do not use contrast-enhancing assistive technology) may not be able to read the text. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum). The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
We aim to meet accessibility standards for text contrast across our site by April 2024
The order of some headings are not always logical and heading levels are occasionally skipped, this means a user with assistive technology may experience difficulty navigating the site. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels).
We aim to ensure the correct structure of headings by April 2024
When we publish new pages we’ll make sure our use of headings meets accessibility standards.
Some of our pages have redundant or identical title text, so people using a screen reader may be confused by the link and the content it links to. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)) and WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.9 (Link Purpose (Link Only))
We aim to ensure all title text provides context for links by April 2024
When we publish new pages we’ll make sure our use of links and corresponding titles meet accessibility standards.
Some adjacent links go to the same location (such as a linked news image and an adjacent linked product name that go to the same news page), this results in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only): A mechanism is available to allow the purpose of each link to be identified from the link text alone, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.
We aim to ensure any adjacent duplicate links are either removed or combined into a single link by April 2024
When we publish new pages we’ll make sure our use of links meets accessibility standards.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
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. Where possible we will aim to replace pdf with equivalent Html pages by August 2021
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 the User Guide to Ethnicity and Immigration Research.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 14th December 2023. It was last reviewed on 14th December 2023
This website was last tested on 14th December 2023. The test was carried out by the Understanding Society web developer.
When deciding on the sample of pages to test for accessibility, we chose pages that are most visited by website users and some that are in the public-facing participant and Study news areas.