Accessibility statement for www.unitedresponse.org.uk

This accessibility statement applies to the United Response website: www.unitedresponse.org.uk.

This website is run by United Response. 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 are not fully accessible:

  • Colour contrast is insufficient for some text
  • Text spacing is not fully supported across the site
  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using assistive technology or just a keyboard
  • Collapsed/expanded states of buttons are not communicated to assistive technology users
  • Older videos may be missing captions, audio description and/or transcripts

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 contact:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in seven 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, contact: webmaster@unitedreponse.org.uk

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

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.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

United Response 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 and exemptions’ listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some videos do not have audio description which means non-audio content is inaccessible to blind people. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative (pre-recorded)) and 1.2.5 (audio description (pre-recorded)).

Some videos do not have transcripts. Transcripts are required for WCAG Level AAA.

We plan to remove videos without audio description/transcripts or add audio description/transcripts to existing videos by 31 March 2023. When we publish new videos we will make sure they are audio described (if required) and transcribed.

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information

It’s not always possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. For example, in the header and the homepage main promo when the font size is increased, the buttons can overlap the text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 (text spacing).

Colour contrast is insufficient for some text. For example, in the supplementary Gift Aid information field on the Donation form. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast minimum).

Buttons with collapsed/expanded states are not communicated to assistive technology users. For example, in FAQ sections, the expandable state of the button is not communicated by assistive technology users on mobile. The collapsed/expanded states are communicated on desktop but this is not the case while using the screen reader VoiceOver on mobile. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when we review the design of our website, scheduled for 2025.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using assistive technology or just a keyboard. For example:

  • Form fields are not announced correctly by a screen reader because some form controls are missing suitable programmatic labels. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)
  • Tooltip element has no role. Products must be entirely compatible with just a keyboard. Screen reader, keyboard and switch users may be unable to operate it. There are elements that cannot be operated with a keyboard. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when we review the design of our website, scheduled for 2025.

Parsing

When our website is run through validator.w3.org a number of errors and warnings are identified, which may impact how well assistive technology interacts with our website.

Following comprehensive assessment of the website with a range of assistive technologies we are confident that, in spite of the errors, the website is navigable by keyboard and with a screen reader.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing all these validation issues and believe doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when we review the design of our website, scheduled for 2025.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

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 other documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to any live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continually working to improve digital accessibility to benefit the people we support. We conducted an accessibility review in 2021 and fixed the issues we could (for example, adding transcripts to videos and making recent PDFs accessible) within parameters that did not raise a disproportionate burden – see above. We plan to review the website again in 2025 when the latest accessibility standards and requirements will be a core goal of any rebuild.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 31 August 2022. It was last reviewed on 31 August 2022.

This website was last tested on 22 May 2022. The test was carried out by AbilityNet.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) in deciding on a sample of pages to test.

Accessible resources

We make many resources in easy read. Easy read uses easy words and pictures to be more accessible to people with a learning disability.

Find our easy read resources here: