Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.lincoln.ac.uk domain. It does not necessarily apply to other linked sub-domains or partner sites, for example, www.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website and we are continually working towards improving its accessibility. We follow general principles of usability and universal design and endeavour to meet level 2 (AA) of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.

Parts of this site may link to external, third-party services such as OneUni, dotdigital, and Eventbrite. While the University advocates and strives to make content on these sites as accessible as possible, there may still be issues you might encounter on these sites. If you are experiencing difficulties and would like support, you can contact our Enquiries Team at enquiries@lincoln.ac.uk or on 01552 886644.

Using This Website

This website and the content on this website is managed by the University of Lincoln. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible.

The University of Lincoln is committed to being inclusive and accessible to everyone. Disabled people are a diverse group with differing requirements, some of which aren't always apparent.

By making our website and content accessible, it will improve the experience for all. For example, this means that you should be able to:

change the fonts, colours, and contrast using your browser settings
zoom in up to 300% without text/content spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA)
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software

How Accessible This Website Is

Though we are committed to making our website accessible, we know some parts of this website are not fully accessible yet. For example:

some heading elements are not consistent
some images and media do not have captions or descriptions
some parts of the website have contrast issues
some forms cannot be resized without loss of content or functionality, and text doesn't meet the minimum contrast ratio between text and background
some content elements cannot be navigated via a keyboard
some interactive components are not far enough apart from other interactive areas
sometimes the focus indicator is partly obscured when selected via a keyboard
sometimes the focus indicator is fully obscured when selected via a keyboard
drag and drop functionality may not have an accessible alternative
some web pages do not present help information consistently
some online forms may request the same information twice

Each department and college which publishes content on the website https://www.lincoln.ac.uk is responsible for making sure it meets the accessibility regulations. We will update this statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.

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

The University’s Student Service's website offers up-to-date information for prospective students and staff with specific learning difficulties, disabilities, sensory impairments, mental health difficulties, and medical conditions.

Feedback and Contact Information

If you need information in a different format, you can request it by sending an email.

In your message, please include:

the web address (URL) of the content
your email address and name
the format you need – for example large print, plain text, or accessible PDF.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.

You can report also report any problems you find with alternative formats you receive.

Reporting Accessibility Problems with This Website

If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or you think we are not meeting the accessibility requirements, you can:

email webteam@lincoln.ac.uk
call 01522 886644

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

The University of Lincoln is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible Content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the Accessibility Regulations

Images on some pages do not always have suitable image descriptions. Users of assistive technologies may not have access to information conveyed in images. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
Some content looks like headings but is not. This makes it difficult for screen reader users to navigate the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
Some pages have poor colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour).
Many documents are in less accessible formats, for example PDF. Non-HTML documents published on or after 23 September 2018 must have an accessible format.
Some controls on the page, including links, buttons and fields, should clearly indicate when they have been selected by the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.11 (Focus Not Obscured Minimum).
When selecting user interface components with the keyboard, the focus indicator must not be completely obscured by anything in front of it. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.12 (Focus Not Obscured Maximum).
Where drag and drop functionality is used an accessible alternative is not currently provided. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.5.7 (Dragging Movements).
Some interactive components on a page, such as buttons or menus, should be far enough apart from other interactive areas, to avoid them being used by mistake. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.8 (Target Size Minimum).
Where help is provided, some web pages do not present this information consistently to the user. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.2.6 (Consistent Help).
Online forms should never request the same information twice. Some online forms need to be checked against this criterion. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.7 (Redundant Entry).

PDFs and Non-HTML Documents

Many documents are not accessible in some ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure. PDFs may not yet be fully accessible to screen reader software or users requiring high magnification with reflow. We recommend readers to open the PDFs in Microsoft Word. The Web layout view in Word is likely to give a better reflow and magnification experience up to 500%. Immersive Reader in Word also gives a range of reading options.

If you find a document that does not meet your needs, or you think aren’t meeting the WCAG 2.2 guidelines, you can:

email webteam@lincoln.ac.uk
call 01522 886644

Disproportionate Burden

We believe that fixing accessibility problems with some content on our website would be a disproportionate burden because the issues are with third party platforms not under our control. We will endeavour to work with third party platform providers to resolve known accessibility issues where possible, and implement accessible alternatives where necessary, but there are some services where we assess it would be a disproportionate burden to fix or replace them.

You can read our Disproportionate Burden Assessments at https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/abouttheuniversity/accessibility/disproportionateburdenassessments/.

Interactive Tools and Transactions

Many of our forms are built and hosted through third party software which is ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag or have poor implementation. Some forms cannot be resized without loss of content or functionality, and text doesn't meet the minimum contrast ratio between text and background.

Our site also hosts third-party multimedia content which may not be fully accessible. This includes content we pull into our website from social media channels such as Twitter or YouTube and content hosted on platforms such a Panoee and Matterport. We are responsible for ensuring the accessibility of the content we produce, however, we have no control over the accessibility of these platforms.

Content That’s Not Within the Scope of the Accessibility Regulations

Non-HTML documents published before September 2018 do not need to be accessible – unless users need them to use a service.

Live-streamed video do not always have captions, depending on presenter tools and confidence. This is exempt from the regulations.

How We Tested This Website

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 level A and level AA to test how accessible this website is.

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Evaluation Methodology to decide on a sample of pages to test.

We also tested a sample of pages involved in applying for a course.

To identify issues on this site we used a combination of:

aXe Developer Tools
Silktide
manual testing (tab navigation, colour contrast etc.)

What We’re Doing to Improve Accessibility

We are continually working on our content and site structure, and finding ways to make the site more intuitive and easy to navigate. In particular, we are currently focusing on resolving the following issues which are acknowledged in this accessibility statement.

We are aware that some heading elements are not consistent and some content looks like a heading, but is not. We are continuing to work to resolve this across the website and have made significant progress. We plan to resolve this by 31 January 2024 by replacing outstanding elements with the correct headings and utilising new page templates.
We are aware that some images and media do not have captions or descriptions. We are continuing to work to resolve this across the website and have made significant progress. We will be working to resolve this by 31 January 2024, ensuring that all images and media are appropriately captioned and described.
We are aware that some interactive page components are not far enough apart from other interactive areas. We plan to resolve this issue by checking and then increasing the spacing between interactive components to a minimum of 24 CSS pixels by 24 CSS pixels in the master stylesheet. We will be working to resolve this by 30 June 2024.
We are aware that some page controls do not clearly indicate when they have been selected via a keyboard. We plan to resolve this by 30 June 2024, ensuring that all page controls are indicated with a solid outline when selected via a keyboard.

We are aware that sometimes when a user has selected a user interface component with the keyboard, the focus indicator can be obscured. We plan to resolve this issue by 30 June 2024.
We are aware that we may have some instances where drag and drop is used and an accessible alternative is not provided. We plan to resolve this by manually checking our website pages by 30 June 2024 to fix any identified issues.
Some of our web pages do not present user help information consistently. We plan to resolve this issue by manually checking pages and introducing a new standardised contact content type by 30th June 2024.
We are aware that some online forms need to be checked to ensure that they do not request the same information twice. We plan to resolve this issue by manually checking forms and updating any duplicate fields by 30 June 2024.

Preparation of This Accessibility Statement

This statement was prepared on 9 August 2022. It was last reviewed on 17 October 2023.