Close
This accessibility statement applies to the Students' Union UCL website.
The Students' Union UCL website (https://studentsunionucl.org/) is run by Students' Union UCL. It is designed in line with recognised good practice, and training in creating accessible content is provided to all site owners and editors. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, which means that you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate the website using just a keyboard
- navigate the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader
There are a number of customisation options for your browser and device that could help you use this website and other websites more effectively. 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 can see a full list of issues we currently know about in the non-accessible content section of this statement.
- Some video and audio content may not have captions, transcriptions, or audio descriptions
- Some pages do not have sufficient colour contrast
- Some elements do not have accessible names
- PDFs (Portable Document Formats) and other documents are not fully compatible with screen readers
- Moving content does not always have controls to pause, stop or hide it
- Links are not always clearly described
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF (Portable Document Format), large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us:
- email su.systems@ucl.ac.uk
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, please contact us:
- email su.systems@ucl.ac.uk
Read tips on contacting organisations about inaccessible websites.
Enforcement procedure
If you're not happy with how we respond to your feedback, please contact the Students' Union UCL complaints team.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
While Students' Union UCL is not a public sector body and is not subject to the same regulations, it seeks to provide the most accessible experience possible in line with UCL's approach and those outlined in 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 2.2 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
This section covers issues that we need to fix and are working to do so.
Main menu (desktop)
There is an unusual tab order to the search and “Log in” items in the menu. “User account menu” appears first in the heading order. This fails WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order (A) and WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). Planned resolution: January 2024
Search
If enter is pressed at the end of the enquiry entry, a different set of results is presented to the list of results that are presented in the suggestion boxes (when the term is entered but enter is not pressed). This fails WCAG 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation (AA).
Main menu (mobile)
Opening the hamburger menu with the keyboard works, but navigating out again by way of the close button does not; instead using the Esc key works, but this is not immediately clear to the user. This fails WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard (A). Planned resolution: January 2024
Home page
Beyond 300%, some clipping occurs to the auto-playing video in the hero banner. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA). Planned resolution: January 2024
The video in the background plays a moving video. Having a play/pause button will enable the user to stop the video distracting from the text. This fails WCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (A).
Forms
Components using the “Chosen” select box are not focussed using keyboard tabs. This fails WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard (A) and WCAG 2.5.3 Label in Name (A).
Pages
Sidebar headings (white text on teal background) have a contrast ratio of 2.86. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA). Planned resolution: January 2024
Information messages (white text on teal background) have a contrast ratio of 2.86. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA). Planned resolution: January 2024
Some tiles containing text do not have sufficient contrast if white is used as the text colour. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA)
When zoomed to 400%, the long link in the navigation bar runs off the right-hand side of the screen, but there is no ability to scroll horizontally. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA). Planned resolution: January 2024
The table of contents / navbar for the page itself, containing all the internal links, takes up the full screen when zoomed to 400%, and vertically scrolling through the content only shows the hyperlink focus colour change, but the content itself is covered completely by the navbar background. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA). Planned resolution: January 2024
Filters
Above certain directories and views, the colour contrast is too low to read the text in the select / dropdown box. People with low vision or colour blindness will not be able to read it. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA). Planned resolution: January 2024
If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Reporting accessibility problems with this website’ section of this statement.
Disproportionate burden
At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims.
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. We are currently working on fixing these essential documents or replacing them with accessible html web 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. Students' Union UCL, while not subject to those regulations, follows this as well.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Video content
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We also have some existing pre-recorded video content that was published before the 23rd of September 2020. This content is also exempt from the regulations. All new video content we produce will have appropriate captions, audio descriptions and transcripts, as necessary.
Online maps
Our service includes the use of online maps to show certain geographical information. These are not used for navigational purposes and are exempt under the regulations. If you require the information presented in an online map in a different format, please contact us to discuss reasonable adjustments.
Third-party content
Our websites contain third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third-party to improve its accessibility. This may include:
- links to non-UCL websites
- content/functionality on our website
- content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites
- documents which are sent to us and uploaded, or comments left on pages by members of the public
To help accessibility compliance across the sector, University College London supports searchBOX, a centralised, independent directory of third-party accessibility information.
searchBOX catalogues the contact information and accessibility statements of third-party suppliers, enables the sharing of community-generated accessibility statements, and allows users to map their supplier ecosystem.
Users can access third-party accessibility statements using the free searchBOX Finder service.
UCL encourages all our partners and suppliers to support this effort by ensuring that their accessibility information is included in the searchBOX directory.
Our testing processes
We selected a prioritised sample of the Students' Union UCL website based on usage, criticality to the student experience and how representative it was of other pages using similar templates or covering related processes.
For third-party applications we have sourced accessibility statements from suppliers directly (wherever possible) and added these to searchBOX (a centralised, independent directory of third-party accessibility information) and documented this in our accessibility statements.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
UCL has created a Digital Accessibility Policy to help us embed accessible by design approaches to our own development as well as externally procured digital systems and we are actively engaged in processes to assess and prioritise remediation of existing systems.
Students' Union UCL also endeavours to comply with UCL's policy where possible. More generally, the Union is committed to embedding accessibility testing in new product and feature releases, and and will always prioritise development work to improve accessibility and user experience.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 3 January 2024. This website was last tested on 2 August 2023. The test was carried out by UCL and Students' Union UCL.