This accessibility statement applies to the website found at the URL: https://understandingsociety.ac.uk/
This website is run by Understanding Society. 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
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:
- you cannot modify the spacing of text
- some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- live video streams do not have captions
- some of our videos do not have captions
- some of our online forms can be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- some of our pages can be difficult to navigate with a screen reader
Feedback and contact information
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or you think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us.
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact Becky Parsons, Associate Director Communications and Engagement:
- email info@understandingsociety.ac.uk
- telephone: 01206 873864
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
Understanding Society 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 of our form input controls are missing text labels, so people using a screen reader may not understand the purpose of that form control. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input.
We aim to add labels to all our forms by September 2021.
When we publish new forms we’ll make sure our use of input controls meets accessibility standards.
Some form input controls have incorrectly associated text labels, so people using a screen reader may not understand the purpose of that form control. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input.
We aim to ensure all labels are correctly associated with their form controls by September 2021.
When we publish new forms we’ll make sure our use of input controls meets accessibility standards.
Some of our form fieldsets do not have a legend, so people using a screen reader may not understand the relationship of grouped form controls. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text and WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input.
We plan to add legends to all our forms by September 2021
When we publish new forms we’ll make sure our use of input controls meets accessibility standards.
Some adjacent links go to the same location (such as a linked news image and an adjacent linked product name that go to the same news page), this results in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only): A mechanism is available to allow the purpose of each link to be identified from the link text alone, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.
We aim to ensure any adjacent duplicate links are either removed or combined into a single link by September 2021
When we publish new pages we’ll make sure our use of links meets accessibility standards.
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. Where possible we will aim to replace pdf with equivalent Html pages by August 2021
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 the User Guide to Ethnicity and Immigration Research.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 04 December 2023.
This website was last tested on 24 June 2021. The test was carried out by the Understanding Society web developer.
When deciding on the sample of pages to test for accessibility, we chose pages that are most visited by website users and some that are in the public-facing participant and Study news areas.