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:

• Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• 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’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:

• Our homepage slider is difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• You can skip to the main content when using a screen reader – it will take you past the top menus at least – however, you need to find the ‘skip to main content’ link to do this, as it doesn’t automatically come up as the first option
• Most images on the main website now have alternative text, however some of our images do not, therefore people using a screen reader cannot access the information. We are working to ensure all images on the main site have alternative text by the end of June 2023.
• We are aware that most of the images used in our e-learning courses do not have alternative text. We are currently working on improving accessibility of all our e-learning which includes the process of adding alternative text to all our images and making content suitable for use with a screen reader and speech recognition software. As we are updating our e-learning on a course-by-course basis, this will take some time. We are working towards all of our current and existing courses having accessibility updates by September 2024.
• Colour contrast against background colours and links is low in some areas
• Live video streams do not have captions

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: [email protected]

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 [email protected]t.

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

We will aim to improve the following areas:

• Our homepage slider is difficult to navigate using just a keyboard, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).
• You cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks).
• Colour contrast against background colours and links is low in some areas, failing WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum).

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 are in the process of adding alternative text to images on both the main website and in our e-learning, however this will be completed on a course-by-course basis, so will take some time.

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.

Navigation and accessing information

The repeated content in the page header cannot be skipped, for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option.

It’s difficult for users to change text size in some areas without content overlapping.

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 the end of 2023, we plan to adapt these 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 systematically working through the website and the e-learning courses we provide to amend and update our platform, to ensure it meets accessibility regulations.

Accessibility Roadmap:

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 13th October 2020. It was last reviewed on 11^th April 2023.

An audit, including testing, will be carried annually. This is next due Spring 2023.

Testing will include:

• Our main website platform, available at www.recoverycollegeonline.co.uk.

If you require the full accessibility test report, please email [email protected]