Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Recovery College Online.

This accessibility statement applies to recoverycollegeonline.co.uk.

This website is run by Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. 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
• 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:

• Some of our images do not have alternative text, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information
• Some of our content across the site is in PDF format where a durable format is needed.

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: tewv.vrc@nhs.net

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 14 working days.

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: RCO Team at tewv.vrc@nhs.net.

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

Recovery College Online 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 the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

PDFs and non-HTML documents

Many documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A) and 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A).

We will be reviewing all PDF documents that are essential for our services and converting any documents published after September 2018 into accessible pages before 1 December 2022. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. Where possible we are replacing these with HTML pages or an accessible PDF.

If you require a PDF document in an accessible format such as large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email tewv.vrc@nhs.net

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). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by October 2021. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

We know that some parts of the website aren’t fully accessible, listed below:

PDF documents since September 2018

Some of our content across the site is in PDF format where a durable format is needed. We will be reviewing all PDF documents that are essential for our services and converting these to accessible pages.

However, we have examined documents published before September 2018 and we’ve assessed the cost of fixing these documents. We believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

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 2022, 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 ‘Trauma Informed Guidance Booklet June 2018’.

Videos

We plan to add captions to all video content on our website, hosted on our YouTube channel.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continuously working to address the points listed above.

We are committed to accessibility. We have established a working group and have plans for training in order to ensure the website continues to remain accessible. For any content that is not accessible, please notify us by contacting tewv.vrc@nhs.net.

Old inaccessible content will be completely replaced or archived permanently by June 2021.

Accessibility Roadmap:

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 31 August 2021. It was last reviewed on 23 December 2021.

This website was last tested on 28 October 2021. The test was carried out by Mixd.

We selected a sample of pages to test based on average use, volume of traffic, and content type. We tested the following pages as they contain our main features used across the site:

• Homepage
• Help
• Low mood and depression
• Staff wellbeing
• Courses
• News
• Recovery College Online reboot
• Stories
• Contact us
• Feedback
• Coronavirus easy read information
• Wellbeing easy read

If you require the full accessibility test report, please email tewv.vrc@nhs.net