Website accessibility

Our principles:

There are two million people with sight problems in the UK . Good design can make a website accessible to them. We are committed to providing accessible online services.

Our site has been designed to allow users who suffer from impaired sight, colour blindness and complete blindness to get the most from it:

For users with impaired vision all text can be fully enlarged. Text-based links have been used, rather than graphic images, in order that the user can still navigate the site whilst viewing it in enlarged format.
For people with colour vision problems, all background colours were chosen to ensure the best possible contrast. Furthermore these background tints can be removed if necessary.
The layout of the site, and of each page within it, has been designed to a logical format. This means that people using speech synthesiser software can navigate more easily around the site and are presented with information in a logical order.
Similarly, the design principles used helps users who cannot use a mouse to use their keyboard (or other specialist device) to 'tab' through each page and navigate each page in a logical manner.
A navigation bar at the top of each page means that users can see, at any point, exactly where they are within the site.

The website is designed to follow the guidelines issued by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and remove barriers to accessibility.

Website functions

The following functions are designed to help make our site more accessible:

Text resizing

It is possible to use your browser to resize the text on this site.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer as your browser go to the 'View' menu and move down to 'Text Size', then select a different size from the menu.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox as your browser go to the 'View' menu and move down to 'Text Size', then select 'Increase' or 'Decrease' from the menu.

Website reading software

Our site is speech-enabled. If you have a visual impairment or other difficulties reading this site, you may find the browsealoud speech-enabling software useful. Once installed and set-up it will read aloud website content as you move your mouse over it.

Click here to download the free Browsealoud software

PDF conversion to HTML

Some documents on this site are provided as Adobe PDFs. However PDFs are not easily accessible to all users so Adobe has developed a method of converting PDF documents into HTML (normal web pages) which is a more accessible format.

Access Keys

Access key functionality provides access to key parts of the website navigational system. To use access keys follow the following guidelines:

PC Internet Explorer users press the 'ALT' button on the keyboard, plus the access key letter, plus 'ENTER'.
PC users using other browsers press the 'ALT' button on the keyboard, plus the access key letter.
Mac users press the 'COMMAND' button on the keyboard, plus the access key letter.
Opera users on all platforms press the 'SHIFT' button on the keyboard, plus 'ESC', plus the access key letter.

The access key letters are listed below:

a = Accessibility
b = About Us
c = Contact Us
h = Home
j = Jobs
n = News
s = Sitemap
t = Translation

How do I convert a PDF document into HTML?

The URL (the web address) of a PDF document will appear in the web browser address bar when it is selected. Copy the URL (normally looks like this: www.websitename ...) and click here

This link will open an online form created by Adobe. Simply paste the URL into the form and the contents of the PDF will be automatically converted to HTML - an ordinary web page.

There are further features and capabilities of Adobe products that enhance electronic document accessibility for people with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, and motor impairments. Click here for information and links to resources that help people with disabilities work more effectively with Adobe software.

Translation and additional service information

For more information about how to view this website in nine other languages, about other translation services we offer and about the availability of materials in other formats, please click here

Accessibility

This site meets World wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) AAA-level standard. It also has the Royal National Institute for the Blind 'See it right' accreditation.