Accessibility
We aim to make this website accessible to all users and therefore follow certain standards and government guidelines to ensure that this site can be used as effectively and easily as possible by everyone.
If you are experiencing any difficulties downloading files or accessing any of the content please contact the Community and Stakeholder Team for assistance.
Website and government standard compliance
This website aims to comply with level 2 (AA) of the W3Cs Website Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines, version 2.0. The WAI promotes usability and accessibility for people with disabilities. The W3C promotes good practice amongst the web community via initiatives like W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines v2.0.
Difficulty using a mouse
Most websites can be used without a traditional mouse, as links can be selected and clicked using the keyboard.
If you find it difficult to use a mouse to navigate around the page, you can follow these steps as a substitute to using your mouse:
- Click on the TAB key on your keyboard. This will move your cursor to each of the navigation options / links on the screen.
- When you have found the link you want, press ENTER on your keyboard.
- You can also use the 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' keys on your keyboard to move the page to the area you want to read.
Screenreaders
The pages on this site are designed to be used with screenreaders, so that visually impaired users can easily access the content and navigate the site and as a result every page has a set of easy access keys.
PDF documents
As you navigate around our website you will come across PDF documents. PDFs are downloadable attachments produced in 'portable document format' - this means that they can be accessed with free software that can be downloaded from the Adobe website.
Before downloading a PDF, you are given the opportunity to access a free download of Adobe Reader.
Why do we use PDFs on our website?
We convert downloadable documents to PDF wherever possible to ensure that they are available to people who do not have access to commercial software such as Microsoft Word. PDFs can be read using free software that can be downloaded from the Adobe website. It also means that we can be sure that documents are presented in the correct format, particularly when printed out. (This can sometimes be necessary for legal reasons.)
Get tools and support information for PDFs from the Adobe website - http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/user_info.html - this page contains links to documents and files that are often requested by users with disabilities.
Choose a colour scheme
