We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible.

The issues identified affect a range of interactions and content across the site, particularly where pages rely on forms, dynamic components, modal dialogs, embedded documents, and reusable content structures.

These issues may affect users who rely on screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, speech recognition software, mobile assistive technologies, or alternative input methods. In some cases, users may experience difficulty accessing information, completing tasks, or understanding page structure.

Examples of the types of accessibility issues identified include:

• Some interactive elements are not fully accessible using a keyboard, or contain unnecessary keyboard navigation stops
• Focus behaviour is not always managed consistently, with focus sometimes moving unexpectedly or becoming obscured by interface components
• Some form controls are not properly labelled or grouped, and some search and filtering controls do not expose the correct accessibility information
  Structural markup is not always used correctly, including issues with headings, lists, and grouping of related content
• ARIA attributes and accessibility roles are not always implemented correctly, which may affect how content is announced to assistive technologies
• Some images and embedded documents do not provide appropriate text alternatives or equivalent accessible information
• Some interface components, including modal dialogs and course information elements, do not expose correct names, roles, values, or states to assistive technologies
• Status messages are not always announced to users of assistive technologies when content changes dynamically

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations (WCAG 2.2 AA)

Level A

1.1.1 Non-text Content
Some non-text content does not have appropriate text alternatives. This includes images and document content where equivalent information is not consistently available to users of assistive technologies.

1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Information, structure, and relationships are not always programmatically determined. This includes issues with headings, lists, grouping of related content, and some ARIA implementations.

2.1.1 Keyboard
Some functionality is not fully operable using a keyboard alone. This includes inaccessible controls, keyboard focus restrictions within modal dialogs, and unnecessary keyboard navigation stops.

2.4.3 Focus Order
Focus does not always move in a logical and predictable order. In some situations focus moves unexpectedly after user actions or is not managed correctly within modal dialogs.

4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
Some user interface components do not expose correct names, roles, values, or states to assistive technologies. This affects some search controls, course information components, telephone links, modal dialogs, and embedded content.

Level AA

2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)
Focused elements are sometimes obscured by interface components, making it difficult for users to identify the current point of focus.

4.1.3 Status Messages
Status messages are not always announced to users of assistive technologies when content is updated dynamically.

PDFs and other documents

Some PDF and Word documents published on this website are not fully accessible. Users of assistive technologies may experience difficulties because:

• some documents are not structured correctly for screen readers
• some documents do not contain appropriate heading structures
• some images within documents do not have suitable alternative text
• some tables may not be fully accessible to assistive technologies
• some PDF documents may not have appropriate document titles, language settings or bookmarks to support navigation

This means some users may find it difficult to navigate, understand or access information contained within these documents. These issues fail WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships), 2.4.2 (Page Titled), 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways) and 3.1.1 (Language of Page).

Some of our PDF and Word documents are essential to providing our services, including information for applicants, students, employers and stakeholders. We are reviewing our document publishing processes and prioritising the remediation or replacement of frequently used and essential documents.

We aim to review and remediate priority documents by 31 July 2027. All newly published documents will meet accessibility requirements from September 2026 onwards.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

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 are reviewing these documents and will prioritise remediation or replacement with accessible HTML where appropriate.

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.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are currently reviewing and prioritising accessibility issues identified through our latest audit.

Cookie banner issues will be resolved by July 2026.

Issues affecting zoom and page reflow will be resolved by September 2026.

We aim to review and remediate priority PDF and document accessibility issues by 31 July 2027.

We are working with our agency to resolve other issues listed by December 2026.

We will update this accessibility statement when issues are fixed or when remediation timescales change.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 3 June 2026 and last reviewed on 15 June 2026.

This website was last tested on 17 April 2026.

The test was carried out by Clive Loseby and his team of disabled testers at Access by Audit (link: Website Accessibility Audit | Real Testing By Disabled Users).

If you would like further information about the accessibility audit, please contact us:

• email: [email protected]
• phone: 023 8048 4848