This accessibility statement applies to https://adultlearning.cumbria.gov.uk.
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 aren’t fully accessible. We will update the statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.
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:
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in ten 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, you can let us know by using our web feedback form, which you'll find on every web page. Or you can contact us.
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
We are 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 and exemptions listed below:
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
We will update the statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.
Non-compliance with accessibility regulations
Users should be able to use a keyboard to access all content and functionality of a web page. This means the page can be used by people with no vision as well as people who use alternative keyboards or input devices that act as a keyboard.
The 'Necessary Cookies' and 'Analytics' accordions and the 'Off/On' toggle in the 'Analytics' accordion in the cookie pop-out cannot be accessed using the keyboard.
Visual text, including text-based controls can be scaled so that they can be read directly by users with visual impairments without using assistive technology such as a screen magnifier.
Text must be able to be resized up to 200 percent without loss of content or function.
At 200% zoom the 'Cookie Settings' heading in the cookie pop-out is no longer visible.
Reflow or ‘responsive web design’ helps users with low vision who may need to enlarge text on a webpage and read it in a single column without scrolling in more than one direction. It also helps users who are viewing the page on a mobile device.
If a page does not support reflow it can appear smaller and more difficult to use or content may be cut off.
Navigation menus often collapse into fewer items or into a single menu button to take up less space. All content and functionality must still be fully available.
At 400% zoom the 'Cookie Settings' heading and the 'Save current settings' and 'Accept all cookies and close' buttons in the cookie pop-out are no longer visible. On a small screen (320x256) the 'Cookie Settings' heading is no longer visible and the the 'Save current settings' and 'Accept all cookies and close' buttons are partly cut off.
Content that moves, flashes or updates automatically can be a severe distraction for certain users, making it difficult to use the page. It can also cause problems for assistive technologies like screen readers.
For any moving, flashing or scrolling information that:
- starts automatically
- lasts more than five seconds
- is presented in parallel with other content
there should be a way for the user to pause, stop or hide it, unless it is part of an essential activity.
There must be a method to allow the user to pause, stop, hide or control the frequency for content that automatically begins ‘auto-updating’ in parallel with other content unless it is essential to an activity.
The carousel cannot be paused, stopped or hidden.
Users should be able to navigate a web page in an order that makes sense. Keyboard navigation should reflect a navigation sequence that is consistent with the meaning of content. Logical navigation reduces confusion and shows logical relationships between content and components.
The focus order may differ from the visual reading order as long as a user can still understand the web page without sight.
The focus moves to the cookie banner after the rest of the page content, meaning keyboard users have to tab through the full page in order to dismiss this. This issue is worsened at higher zoom levels, as the cookie banner covers more of the screen.
Elements must have sufficient colour contrast.
Poor colour contrast makes it difficult for someone with sight loss to see the content properly. If there is a big difference between the background and foreground colours it should be much easier to see the difference between them.
When the user is in the search bar next to 'Find courses in Cumbria:', the '(title or course code)' placeholder text does not have sufficient colour contrast.
The 'Powered by Translate' text in the page footer does not have sufficient colour contrast.
On our digital skills courses page when the user is in the search bar next to 'Find courses in Cumbria:', the '(title or course code)' placeholder text does not have sufficient colour contrast.
Our ‘Our Zoom for Learners PDF’ fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content.
People with sight loss may not see an image clearly on a page. You need to use a text alternative to share the information. The alternative text must describe the information or function represented by the image.
Screen readers can share the alternative text with the user. In PDF documents you must ensure that images are tagged correctly with alternative text.
There are figures in the document that do not have alternate text, such as the 'Using Zoom for Learners' image on page 1. Please review alternate text throughout the document.
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. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The Public Sector Body Accessibility Regulations 2018 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 should meet accessibility standards.
Live video
Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions, live).
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We are decommissioning this website and replacing with a new fully compliant site.
We are aiming to launch the new site before September 2024.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 13 May 2024. It was last reviewed on 13 May 2024.
We use this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test:
- the statement was prepared using feedback from Government Digital Services
- the site was checked using a mixture of simple manual checks and automated tests to find only the most common barriers to users with accessibility needs.