Accessibility statement for Basingstoke College of Technology

This accessibility statement applies to the domains of www.bcot.ac.uk

This website is run by Basingstoke College of technology. 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
• 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:

• the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• live video streams do not have captions
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page

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 email bcot.ac.uk or call 01256 306679

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 2 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, please email marketing@bcot.ac.uk or call 01256 306679

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 Sarah Steele, Head of Marketing and Admissions at marketing@bcot.ac.uk or call 01256 306679

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired, or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us here.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Basingstoke College of Technology 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 content does not have suitable contrast, so people with low vision may struggle to access this information. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). We plan to fully resolve this by September 2023.

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 September 2023. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some PDFs do not have a text alternative for elements embedded within them, 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 September 2023. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some PDFs have content that aren't correctly marked up, so people using a screen reader may have issues understanding this content. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2023.

Some PDFs are missing the language setting, so it won't be clear to people which language the PDF is written in. This fails WCAG success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page). We plan to fix this by September 2023.

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. By September 2023, 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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17th April 2023. It was last reviewed on 17th April 2023.

This website was last tested in February 2023. The test was carried out by an independent agency (Brace Digital). The test was conducted using a combination of automated tests (Axe) and manual analysis across the main landing and focus pages, as well as additional page types as deemed necessary.

A spot check was completed by the Government Digital Services in January 2023 and following feedback from the report here, further changes were made.