Accessibility statement
The following statement explains how the Cardiff University website (www.cardiff.ac.uk) meets the 2018 The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations.
About this statement
This statement was prepared on 16 September 2019. It was updated on 12 October 2020.
This page will be updated as further accessibility improvements are made.
How accessible this website is
This website can be used with a screen reader and has the following built-in accessibility features:
- ability to skip to the content of each page
- you can navigate it using a keyboard or voice commands
- you can zoom in or out
- the design uses high colour contrast
- the design adapts to different devices and screen sizes
- the design does not use colour as the only way to distinguish something
- moving content can be stopped
- images of text are not used in the design or content
- each part of the page is highlighted as it is selected
- form fields have accessible labels
- each page is structured with correct, meaningful HTML
When we publish information on this website, we will:
- structure content well
- use plain English (except for academic or scientific words that don’t have an alternative)
- use short sentences
- explain acronyms
- make sure PDFs or other documents are accessible
- write good link text
- make images and videos accessible
- ensure new features work on assistive technologies
However, we know that some aspects of this website are not fully accessible and we are continuing to work on resolving them:
- some content may not be in plain English or short sentences
- navigation links may be confused with other links on the page
- lists of content may contain duplicate links
- wide HTML tables cannot be viewed on small screens
- a large proportion of PDFs and other documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- video and audio may not have captions or transcripts
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format (accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille) please contact web@cardiff.ac.uk. We will consider your request and respond within five working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact our Compliance and Risk team.
Compliance and Risk
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
Cardiff 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
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Specific aspects of this website are non-complaint with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard, as shown in the table below. As the site becomes more compliant over time, this table will be updated.
| WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria | Description | Non-compliant pages | Proportion of pages that are compliant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4.4 | Image link is missing alternative text | 2,201 | 90.49% |
| 2.4.4 | Link text used for multiple different destinations | 2,194 | 84.85% |
| 4.1.1 | Element ID is not unique | 1,074 | 95.51% |
| 1.3.1 | HTML is used to format content | 826 | 95.03% |
| 1.1.1 | Image with no alt attribute | 775 | 96.31% |
| 2.4.7 | Element not highlighted on focus | 687 | 97.35% |
| 3.3.2 | "Aria-labelledby" has incorrect (ID) reference | 590 | 99.31% |
| 4.1.2 | Invalid WAI-ARIA role, state or property | 461 | 95.03% |
| 3.2.2 | Missing button in form | 359 | 82.22% |
| 3.2.2 | Provide a button for 'select box' | 359 | 98.16% |
| 1.3.1 | Local link destination does not exist | 326 | 96.41% |
| 1.3.1 | "u" tag used to format text | 289 | 98.86% |
| 1.4.1 | Link identified only by colour | 196 | 99.12% |
| 1.3.1 | Heading is missing text | 195 | 99.01% |
| 2.4.4 | Link text is too generic in its current context | 182 | 99.42% |
| 1.4.3 | Colour contrast is insufficient | 89 | 98.64% |
| 1.3.1 | "Bold" tag used to format text | 27 | 99.83% |
| 1.1.1 | Alternative text for the image is a file name | 27 | 99.94% |
| 1.3.1 | "Font" tag used to format text | 25 | 99.89% |
| 1.3.1 | Label is not connected to a form control | 21 | 99.89% |
| 3.3.2 | Form elements are not grouped | 14 | 99.94% |
| 4.1.2 | Select box has no description | 5 | 99.96% |
| 1.3.1 | Text area has no description | 4 | 99.92% |
| 1.1.1 | The image does not have the correct alternative | 3 | 99.99% |
| 2.4.6 | Form control label is missing text | 1 | 99.54% |
| 2.4.2 | Webpage has multiple title elements or no title element | 1 | 99.94% |
| 1.3.1 | Cell references non-existent table heading ID | 1 | 99.99% |
| 3.1.1 | Language of page has not been set | 1 | 99.99% |
| 1.3.1 | No headings on page | 1 | 99.99% |
Documents
Most of the 1,239 PDFs and 272 Word documents on www.cardiff.ac.uk that have been published since 23 September 2018 are non-compliant.
Maps
Sophisticated, interactive maps may not have an accessible alternative.
Disproportionate burden
At present there are no accessibility problems on www.cardiff.ac.uk that we consider to be a disproportionate burden to resolve.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Older PDFs and other documents
Documents that were published before 23 September 2018 and are not essential to providing our services are exempt from the regulations.
Audio and video
Live video streams such as our graduation ceremonies are exempt from the accessibility regulations. Other audio and video are exempt from the regulations until September 2020.
Special collections and archives
Our historical library collections are exempt from the regulations.
Maps
Interactive maps are exempt from the regulations, but an accessible alternative is required.
How we tested this website
This website is tested weekly by Cardiff University using a tool called SiteImprove. This tool reports accessibility problems and we tackle them in order of greatest impact.