Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to www.arctic.ac.uk.

This website is run by the NERC Arctic Office. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • 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)

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 yet fully accessible:

  • Not all images have alternative text
  • Some video captions are auto generated and are not always correct
  • Some elements do not have sufficient colour contrast
  • Not all form elements have a visible label
  • Some ARIA elements have not been implemented correctly 
  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some pages have skipped heading level
  • Some content has reflow issues – horizontal scroll
  • Site search is not visible to mobile users
  • Some form fields do not have a focus state
  • Some adjacent links currently go to the same URL
  • Some links do not have discernible text
  • Visual order doesn’t match the structural order on some content
  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • The YouTube video player has accessibility issues with contrast and tooltips

Feedback and contact information

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

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 14 days.

We can supply verbal instructions on how to get to our Cambridge office, or see our page on the British Antarctic Survey website for information on travel options/directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re 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, contact: BAS Service Desk, Web & Applications Team at the following email address: servicedesk@bas.ac.uk.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us at our contact page.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The NERC Arctic Office is committed to making its website 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 2.1 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

Video content with audio is present but doesn’t include synchronised captioning. This fails:

  • 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Video)
  • 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)

We plan to fix this by February 2022.

Some images are missing or insufficient alternative text to relay information to blind users about the image’s contents and purpose. This fails:

  • 1.1.1 Non-text Content

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software. This fails:

  • 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence
  • 2.1.1 Keyboard
  • 2.4.2 Page Titled
  • 2.4.3 Focus Order

We pan to fix this by May 2021.

Some ARIA elements have not been implemented correctly. This fails:

  • 2.1.1 Keyboard
  • 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (ARIA)

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

Not all form elements have a visible label. This fails:

  • 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
  • 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Label)

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

Some elements do not have sufficient colour contrast. This fails:

  • 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

We pan to fix this by March 2021.

Some form fields do not have a focus state. This fails:

  • 2.4.7 Focus Visible
  • 2.1.1 Keyboard
  • 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

The site search is invisible to mobile users. This fails:

  • 1.4.10 Reflow

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

Some content has reflow issues (horizontal scroll). This fails:

  • 1.4.10 Reflow

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

Some content have issues on skipped heading levels. This fails:

  • 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
  • 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

On some content the visual content doesn’t match the structural order. This fails:

  • 2.4.3 Focus Order

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

Some links do not have discernible text. This fails:

  • 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)

We plan to fix this by April 2021.

Some adjacent links currently go to the same URL. This fails:

  • 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)

We plan to fix this by March 2021.

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

We do not have any items for this section.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

The table below shows the items where our website fails to conform to the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines and also has a timeline of when we aim to fix these issues.

 

Target Date Item Status
February 2022 Video content with audio is present but doesn’t include synchronised captioning. YouTube auto-generates captions using voice recognition which is not sufficient to meet all WCAG 2.1 criteria. Captions make it easier for people with cognitive, language, or learning disabilities to understand as well as being essential for deaf users or anyone with some level of hearing impairment.

Issue location(s): Films

 Ongoing
May 2021 Images are missing or insufficient alternative text to relay information to blind users about the image’s contents and purpose.

Issue location(s): Blog content, UK Arctic Research Station, PDFs, P1120143, Multiple locations sitewide in post summaries

 Ongoing
May 2021 Some PDF linked to from the website have no title property. PDF documents should have titles that describe the topic or purpose of the page to help users understand the topic without having to read the entire document.

Issue location(s): (See PDFs listed in scope of tests)

 Ongoing
February 2022 The PDFs are not formatted in such a way to make them easily navigable and readable by headings and without a table of contents. Keyboard and assistive technology users may not be able to understand the content.

Issue location(s): (See PDFs listed in scope of tests)

 Ongoing
February 2021 Iframe(s) missing a title attribute which is necessary to describe the contents inside when navigating the page using a screen reader.

Issue location(s): Films

 Complete
March 2021 An element with role=”menu” does not contain any elements with a valid role. These are necessary for specific keyboard interactions which some users may depend on to access the menu. This may affect people who are blind, have low vision or people with hand tremors who find using a mouse very difficult.

Issue location(s): Sitewide in menu

 Complete
March 2021 The search form field lacks a properly coded label to indicate its purpose. Screen reader users may experience difficulty understanding the form fields in this case.

Issue location(s): Search form

 Complete
March 2021 The contrast between foreground and background colours doesn’t meet WCAG 2 AA contrast ratio thresholds. This has a serious user impact because there are many types of vision impairment where poor colour contrast could affect their ability to view the website.

Issue location(s): Sitewide in headings, links and buttons

 Ongoing
March 2021 Keyboard focus states aren’t visible on the website search, sidebar filter and subscribe for updates forms. Users navigating with a keyboard and anyone with vision impairment issues may find it difficult to keep a track of where they are in the page.

Issue location(s): Header and footer, sidebar filter

 Complete
March 2021 The website search form is invisible to users on mobile or when magnifying the view size above 200%. This can be frustrating and makes it difficult or impossible for some users to view and use all the website’s functionality if they depend on a small device to view the Web, have vision impairment or depend on assistive technology to view the page.

Issue location(s): Sitewide

 Complete
March 2021 Some content such as videos and links aren’t responsive to the width of the page on mobile devices. This can be frustrating and makes it difficult for some users to view all the page’s content if they depend on a small device to view the Web, have vision impairment or depend on assistive technology to view the page.

Issue location(s): Films, How to apply 

 Complete
March 2021 A heading level is skipped. Users may be confused or experience difficulty navigating when heading levels are skipped. Headings provide document structure and facilitate keyboard navigation by users of assistive technology. These users may be confused or experience difficulty navigating when heading levels are skipped.

Issue location(s): About, Posts

 Complete
March 2021 The order of content presented to assistive technologies is different from what is rendered visually. The structural order begins with the date and list of categories before the title. The visual order should match the structural order. Users with assistive technologies may find this structure illogical, frustrating and confusing to navigate.

Issue location(s): News

 Complete
April 2021 Ambiguous text, text that does not make sense out of context, and extraneous text (such as “click here”) can cause confusion and should be avoided. This type of issue is most easily observed when navigating the page with a screen reader to list all the links present on the page.

Issue location(s): About, Posts, News

 Ongoing
March 2021 Adjacent links go to the same location. This results in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users.

Issue location(s): Listings and homepage features

 Complete

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22/01/2021. It was last reviewed on 22/01/2021.

This website was last tested on 22/01/2021. The tests were carried out by The Dextrous Web Ltd (DXW).

As part of this report the following pages/templates have been tested using automated and manual tests: