Website accessibility

Accessibility statement for Accommodation, Catering and Events
Web application accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This accessibility statement applies to: https://www.accom.ed.ac.uk/
This website is run by Accommodation, Catering and Events at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this application. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Using your browser settings, change most colours, contrast levels and fonts
• Magnify up to 200% without loss of content or overlap
• Use the website without encountering any time limits
• Use the website without the need to drag any items using a mouse

We’ve also made the text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet - My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our application using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess

We know some parts of this application are not fully accessible:

• Not all non-text content has meaningful alternative text
• There are examples of text as an image
• Not all audio-visual content has audio descriptions
• Not all audio-visual context has a transcript alternative and human corrected captions
• There are some examples of information conveyed by colour only
• Not all contrasts meet the minimum thresholds as per WCAG 2.2 AA standards
• Regions of the page are not identified with ARIA landmarks
• Reflow is not enabled up to 400%
• Some text elements were positioned over images, became cut off and could not be read in full, when the site is customised
• Content that appears on hover or focus cannot easily be dismissed
• It is not possible to access all content by keyboard only
• There is not a skip to main content option on every page of the site
• It can be difficult to tell where you have navigated to by keyboard due to missing or unclear keyboard focus
• There is some moving content on the site that cannot be stopped or paused by the user
• In some cases some parts of the site are hidden or obscured when they receive keyboard focus
• Some links are naked URLs or do not have meaningful hypertext
• The site is not fully compatible with assistive software such as screen readers and voice recognition software.

If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:

• email ACE.businessadmin@ed.ac.uk
• telephone +44 (0)131 651 2189
• British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service: Contact Scotland BSL

We will consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact:

• email ACE.businessadmin@ed.ac.uk
• telephone +44 (0)131 651 2189
• British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service: Contact Scotland BSL

We will consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

British Sign Language service

British Sign Language service Contact Scotland BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Contact Scotland BSL service details

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

Compliance Status

This application is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard

Non accessible content

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

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

• Not all non-text content has alternative text, decorative images have inappropriate alt text, image and text links are not combined and form input areas lack text labels
• 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

• Pre recorded audio visual content does not have human corrected captions
• 2.2 Captions Prerecorded
• Pre-recorded video does not have either a descriptive text transcript
  • 2.3 - Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-Recorded)
• An alternative audio track containing an audio description is not present for pre-recorded video
  • 2.5 - Audio Description (Pre-Recorded)
• Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation cannot always be programmatically determined or are not available in text e.g. regions of the page are not identified with ARIA landmarks, related links are not grouped together using the navigation element, variation in text presentation convey information, tables have incorrect layouts, related form elements are not grouped and the embedded multimedia is not identified by accessible text.

• 1.3.1 – Info and Relationships
• There are examples of information conveyed by colour only
• 1.4.1 – Use of Colour
• There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours
• 1.4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)

• There are examples of text as an image

• 1.4.5 – Images of Text

• Reflow is not enabled on all content to 400%
  • 4.10 – Reflow

• When attempting to customise the site, there were issues with rendering on some text elements, whereby some text elements were positioned over images, became cut off and could not be read in full
• 1.4.12 - Text Spacing
• Content that appears on hover or focus cannot be easily dismissed
• 1.4.13 – Content on Hover or Focus
• Not all content can be reached when navigating by keyboard
• 2.1.1 - Keyboard
• There is moving text that cannot be paused or stopped by the users
• 2.2.2 – Pause, Stop, Hide
• There is no skip to main content option on some pages of the site, some frames cannot be bypasses and the heading structure is incorrect
• 2.4.1 – Bypass Blocks
• Some links are displayed as naked URLs or do not contain meaningful hypertext, there are instances if multiple links containing the same link text
• 2.4.4 – Link Purpose (In Context)
• A visible tab focus indicator is not present or is not clearly defined when navigating by keyboard
• 2.4.7 – Focus Visible
• Some content such as the chatbot obscures the focus order when the user is tabbing through the page and the selection is on an item behind the chatbot
• 2.4.11 – Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)
• Certain user interface elements lack the appropriate labelling required for effective navigation
• 2.5.3 – Label in Name
• The site is not fully compatible with assistive software such as screen readers and voice recognition software e.g. some content on the homepage is defined as clickable with JAWS, however it is not, or some content such as the chatbot or WhatsApp is not accessible when using Dragon. The chatbot lacks and accessible name, zooming and scaling are disabled, and elements are not coded correctly using ARIA
• 4.1.2 – Name, Role, Value
• Screen reader users are not notified when new content appears on the page, for example, if a new message appears on the chatbot and screen reader users are not notified of this
• 4.1.3 – Status Messages

We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility.

Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within our control by July 2026. We will continue to work with the suppliers regarding items out with our control. At this time we believe the site is fully in our control.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Maps

The site has address locations but also has an integrated map functionality, which is not fully accessible. However, maps are currently not within the scope of the accessibility regulations.

The following items do not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

• Not all non-text content presented to users has alternative text
• 1.1.1 - Non-text Content
• Colour is used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element
  • 4.1 - Use of Color
• It is not possible to navigate fully round the maps using keyboard only.
• 1.1 - Keyboard

Items outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations

We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted, alongside working to deliver a solution or suitable workaround. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within our control by July 2026.

While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, or where we are unable, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this application.

This statement was prepared 22^nd June 2022. It was last reviewed on 29^th July 2025.

The application was last tested in July 2025. The testing was carried out by the company Zoonou for the University of Edinburgh using both automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using Microsoft Edge alongside Safari and Google Chrome.

Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:

WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey

The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.

We ran automated testing using AXE (Google Chrome extension) and then manual testing that included:

• Spell check functionality;
• Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
• Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
• Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
• Data validation;
• Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
• Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
• Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
• Use with screen reading software (for example JAWS);
• Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
• Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
• Time limits;
• Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS);
• Any drag functionality and alternatives;
• Consistent help function;
• No need to re-enter data already submitted;
• Any cognitive tests.

Change Log