Old Joe accessibility

At the University of Birmingham, we want to ensure that as many people as possible can use our website, and we are working to improve our digital services.

This accessibility statement covers the website www.oldjoe.co.uk. This accessibility statement is currently being reviewed to confirm that the Old Joe website now meets the recommended government standard for web accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA).

We aim to achieve the recommended government standard for web accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA). As a user with accessible needs, you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 200% 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

We also aim to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.

If you have a disability, AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use.

How accessible this website is

As of January 2021 the Old Joe website is believed to be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, with the following recently identified exceptions:

Navigation

  • Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected - WCAG AA 2.4.7

Forms

  • Specify a title for all inline frames - WCAG A 2.4.1
  • Ensure form controls have labels - WCAG A 1.3.1

Colour contrast

  • Ensure text has sufficient contrast - WCAG AA 1.4.3
  • Aim for text to have very high contrast - WCAG AAA 1.4.6

What to do if you can’t access parts of the www.oldjoe.co.uk website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email accessibility@contacts.bham.ac.uk. In your message please include the web address (URL) of the content, your name, your email address and the format you need. We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website and are continuing to audit our content. If you find something that you are unable to access, or we have failed to identify a barrier, please let us know. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email accessibility@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Enforcement procedure

If you are unhappy with the response you have received from the University about your accessibility-related issue, you can make a complaint to the University by emailing accessibility-complaint@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

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

The University of Birmingham is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Compliance status

The Old Joe website is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, with the exceptions of the five issues identified above relating to navigation, forms and colour contrast.

We are working with our external website provider to address these issues by early 2022. These areas were identified in October 2021, using a new website accessibility evaluation tool provided by the University.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

  • Many of our older PDFs and Word documents published before 23 September 2018 do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2.
  • The accessibility regulations don’t 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.

How we tested this website

This website was first tested in December 2019 and again in December 2020. The test was carried out by our trusted agency, focusing on representative pages which contain the main features used across the site.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

If you find any issues with the website, please get in touch with us.

Change log

This statement was first published on 13 February 2020. 

It was updated on 25 January 2021 to reflect the following improvements made to the website: 

  • Non-text content should have a text alternative eg alt tags or be marked up to be ignored by assistive technology
  • Information and relationships should be accessible if conveyed through presentation, well organised and regions of a page should be identifiable.
  • Form fields should include autocomplete attributes where appropriate
  • Meaning should not be conveyed solely through colour
  • The site should avoid using low-contrast text/backgrounds, graphics and interactive UI components and elements
  • To make it easy to resize text, texts and text containers should be defined in relative units rather than in pixels.
  • Text spacing should not use pixels for defining the height and spacing (e.g. height, line height, etc) of text boxes.
  • Content that appears on Hover or Focus should be fully accessible.
  • All functionality should be available to a keyboard to avoid relying exclusively on pointer-driven events.
  • The content should be operable through a keyboard interface
  • Motion animation triggered by interaction can be disabled, unless essential
  • Blocks of content that are repeated on multiple web pages should be able to be bypassed.
  • Each web page should have a title tag that is descriptive, informative, and unique.
  • Link purpose should be clear from the link text alone, or from the link text and surrounding content
  • Multiple ways should be available to locate a Web page within a set of Web pages except where the Web Page is the result of, or a step in, a process.
  • The website should support keyboard focus styles that are highly visible
  • Information about the user's location within a set of Web pages should be available.
  • The accessible name for a UI element must contain any visual label for the element.
  • The size of the target for pointer inputs should be large enough to use easily.
  • The website should provide a language attribute on the page's html element.
  • Errors when completing forms should be clearly indicated for all users.
  • Labels or instructions should be provided when content requires user input, with text instructions that describes the necessary input.
  • If an input error is automatically detected and suggestions for correction are known, then the suggestions should be provided to the user where possible.

It was updated in October 2021 to identify outstanding issues relating to navigation, forms and colour contrast, which we are working with our external website provider to address by early 2022. These areas were identified in October 2021, using a new website accessibility evaluation tool provided by the University.