We have tried to make the site as accessible as possible for all visitors and we will continue to develop its accessibility based on feedback from user testing. We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our site, so if you find anything on the site difficult to use or read, please let us know.
Accessibility Standards
Our goal for the website is that all pages should meet the Priority 2 (Level AA) checkpoints of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
A limited number of pages, such as those displaying maps provided by Google, do rely on JavaScript and will not be accessible to users of certain assistive technologies or users who have turned off JavaScript in their browsers.
We will continue to try to improve the accessibility of the website, and your feedback is important to us for this.
Accessibility Features
We have made the site as usable as we can, but you might have a better experience if you change the settings on your computer to suit your individual needs. For example, you can change the site’s colours, increase the text size, or have the site spoken aloud.
For help customising your experience using accessibility features already on your device or by installing extra assistive technologies, read AbilityNet’s My Computer My Way guide.
Site Features
Descriptive link text
When the author of a site uses descriptive link text, all links on the page will make sense even when read out of context. For users of assistive technology (e.g. screen-readers) this can allow them to quickly jump through pages of text to find relevant links.
Meaningful ALT attribute on images
Most images on this site contain additional ‘alternate’ text that is stored with the image. This allows users who otherwise wouldn’t be able to see the image access to the stored information. Although this can help users of assistive technology (e.g. screen-readers), this also applies to visitors who disable images because of a slow internet connection.
Browsers
This website is compatible with Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer 11 and above, Safari, Firefox and Chrome.
Google Translate
The Google Translate tool (in the top main menu of the website) enables you to choose from a range of languages to change the text on the website into one you are familiar with.
PDF and Accessibility
Visually impaired users may have trouble reading PDF files with screen reader software. To overcome this you can go to the Access Adobe website and use their online conversion tools for Adobe PDF Documents.