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Accessibility statement for shu.ac.uk

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  2. Accessibility statement for shu.ac.uk

Accessibility statement for shu.ac.uk

This website is run by Sheffield Hallam University. 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. For instance:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard or a screen reader
  • some content is displayed in frames with no title attribute
  • some of our videos do not have text descriptions

For more detail, refer to the Technical Information section below.

How to report accessibility issues with this platform

If you find content that you are unable to access on our website, we recommend you contact the site owner in the first instance, using any contact details on the pages. They will have direct access to the original content and be able to provide any alternative formats needed.

How to contact the University about accessibility issues

Please contact us at webaccessibility@shu.ac.uk if you need further assistance with accessibility issues – for instance, if you

  • need information in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille
  • encounter any problems not outlined on this page
  • think we are not meeting accessibility requirements

The University also licenses Sensus Access, a service which can automatically improve the accessibility of files. We recommend staff and students use this to quickly create more accessible files.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Sheffield Hallam University 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.

Non accessible content

We are aware that the website does not meet WCAG standards in some areas, as set out below. 

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

We are continuing to make incremental improvements to deliver a stronger accessible website.

1.1.1 - Non-text content
  • Some of our PDFs are not machine readable
  • The website contains adjacent links that point to the same destination
  • Some images and media do not have alternative text specified
  • Some images feature alternative text that is the same as adjacent text links
1.3.1 - Info and relationships
  • Some fieldsets do not feature a legend to offer a description of the field group
  • Ensure labels in the document fragment point to valid IDs
  • Not all tables have headers
  • Some headings do not have text due to an issue with the rich text editor
  • Wrap items with the same name inside a fieldset
  • Some form controls do not have labels
  • There are PDFs that do not have a H1 as the first heading
  • Some PDFs feature headings that do not follow a logical order
  • Some tables do not have the scope attribute that helps assistive technology to determine table order 
  • There are PDFs that do not have tags
  • Areas of the website have navigations that are not marked in lists
  • Some PDFs do not feature a heading
  • There are dialogs (pop-up windows) that are not labelled
1.3.5 - Identify input purpose
  • Forms feature fields that cannot be populated programmatically
1.4.1 - Use of colour
  • There are some links on the website that are not distinguished by more than just color making it more difficult to navigate with keyboard
1.4.3 - Contrast (minimum)
  • There are some areas of the website where text does not have sufficient contrast
1.4.10 - Reflow
  • Some pages scroll in two dimensions on small screens
2.4.1 - Bypass blocks
  • Some pages do not let users to quickly skip to content
  • There are anchors in some pages that do not exist
  • Not all inline frames have titles
2.4.2 - Page titled
  • Some PDFs do not have a title or are defines as weak
2.4.4 - Link purpose (in context)
  • Some links do not explain their purpose
  • There are some links that feature the same text for different destinations
2.4.5 - Multiple ways
  • Some PDFs do not use bookmarks to aid navigation
2.4.7 - Focus visible
  • There are controls on the website that do not change appearance when they are selected
3.1.1 - Language of page
  • Not all PDFs specify a default language
3.2.2 - On input
  • Not all forms feature a submit button
4.1.1 - Parsing
  • Some pages have duplicate IDs
  • There are lists on the website that are not marked up correctly
4.1.2 - Name, role, value
  • Some links can not be used by screen readers


Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.



Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

We had aimed to fix PDFs and Word documents by September 2020 that are essential to providing our services, unfortunately we were not able to meet that deadline and are aiming to replace those documents with accessible HTML pages as soon as possible.

Accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services. 

How we tested this website

The University is using Silktide quality management software to run regular accessibility audits of this website. Audits run every five days.

In addition, we are currently scoping additional ways to identify accessibility issues, including user testing.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

As well as running regular accessibility audits, we are working with staff members to raise awareness around good accessibility practice.  

This statement was prepared on 2 December 2019. It was last updated on 8 December 2021.

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