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Accessibility statement for www.bradford.ac.uk

This accessibility statement applies to the www.bradford.ac.uk website. It does not cover other bradford.ac.uk subdomains such as portal.bradford.ac.uk or your.bradford.ac.uk.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10 April 2025. It was last reviewed on 15 April 2025. For a copy of our previous versions, please e-mail web-team@bradford.ac.uk or contact our Legal and Governance team. 

This website was last tested between 31 March and 10 April 2025 against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. 

Accessibility ethos

Visit our Web Accessibility page to learn more about our ethos to web accessibility.

About the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

As of 23 September 2018, all public sector websites are lawfully required to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard and publish an accompanying accessibility statement.

The UK Government Digital service have stated that monitoring accessibility against WCAG 2.1 Level AA will be in place until October 2024, from when assessments will be against the WCAG 2.2 Level AA standard.

As an existing website (published before 23 September 2018) the deadline for the University of Bradford website to meet the latest regulations on accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement was 23 September 2020.

How accessible this website is

We recognise that some parts of the website are not accessible:

  • Not all PDF and Word documents have been adapted for assistive technologies or may have issues with colour contrast.
  • Not all media (images, video, audio) has descriptive text alternatives.
  • Not all link text is descriptive.
  • Live video streams do not have captions.
  • Not all headings are correctly ordered or labelled.
  • Some content is difficult to navigate by keyboard.
  • Some colours are used which do not provide sufficient colour contrast for users who may perceive colours differently or not at all.
  • Users who may operate their keyboard to navigate certain webpages may find it difficult to see the focus indicator because it may not always be adequately visible.
  • Not all content is marked up appropriately.
  • Some content overflows vertically or horizontally when resized.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The University of Bradford 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

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the WCAG 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

Media
  1. Images on some pages do not have suitable image descriptions. Users relying on assistive technologies may not be able to interpret information conveyed in images. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
  2. Videos on some pages do not have a text alternative (captions / audio description). Users relying on assistive technologies may not be able to interpret information conveyed in videos. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.1 (Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)).
  3. Podcasts on some pages do not have a text alternative (transcript). Users relying on assistive technologies may not be able to interpret information conveyed in podcasts. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.1 (Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)).
  4. Podcasts on some pages do not have a text alternative (transcript). Users relying on assistive technologies may not be able to interpret information conveyed in podcasts. WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2 (Captions (Prerecorded)).
  5. Videos on some pages do not have a media alternative (transcripts). Users relying on assistive technologies may not be able to interpret information conveyed in videos. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.3 (Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)).
  6. Videos on some pages do not have an audio description. Users relying on assistive technologies may not be able to interpret information conveyed in videos. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.5 (Audio Description (Prerecorded)).
Markup
  1. Somes quotes do not use appropriate markup, making the relationship between the author and the quote unclear to assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  2. Some lists are split in two for visual purposes but semantically should be joined together. This may confuse users relying on assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  3. Some information is displayed in a tabular matter without using the appropriate markup. This may confuse users relying on assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  4. Some information is displayed in bold without using the appropriate markup. This may confuse users relying on assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  5. Some lists are displayed in an ordered manner despite using unordered markup. This may confuse users relying on assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  6. Some buttons do not describe the relationship between modals programmatically. This may confuse users relying on assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  7. Some headings are not structured in order. This may confuse users relying on assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence).
  8. Some input fields do not have labels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).
  9. Some close buttons inside dialogs do not have labels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).
Content
  1. Some instructions provided for understanding and operating content is provided by sensory characteristics of components. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.3 (Info and Relationships).
  2. Some headings and labels do not describe topic or purpose. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels).
Visual
  1. Some dialogs overflow horizontally on smaller (mobile) screens, making the content inaccessible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.4 (Orientation).
  2. Some filters only use colours to identify relationships. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Color).
  3. Some pages only use colour to indicate the current page (pagination). This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Color).
  4. Some text overflows either horizontally or vertically when resized to 200%. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize Text)
  5. Some text overflows either horizontally or vertically when viewed at a width equivalent to 320 CSS pixels and at a height equivalent to 256 CSS pixel. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow).
  6. Some buttons do not have sufficient contrast (<3:1) against the background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast).
  7. Some buttons, when hovered or focussed, do not have sufficient contrast (<3:1) against the background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast).
  8. Some text overflows horizontally when viewed at a line height of 1.5 times the font size, paragraph spacing of 2 times the font size, letter spacing of 0.12 times the font size and word spacing of 0.16 times the font size. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.12 (Text Spacing).
  9. Some interactive carousel slides do not have visible focus. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).
Keyboard
  1. Some interactive content inside carousel slides cannot be focused when the user hasn’t changed slides. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
  2. Some content within dialogs cannot be scrolled vertically using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
  3. Some filters cannot be skipped using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).
  4. Some forms cannot be skipped using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).
  5. Some navigation cannot be skipped using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).

Disproportionate burden

Documents

Due to the number of PDFs and Word documents on the website, and present resource available at the University, we are unable to make all documents which are featured online fully accessible at this time and doing so would place a disproportionate burden based on the accessibility regulations.

You can review our analysis we undertook for our disproportionate claim.

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

Decorative images

Images that don’t add information to content are considered decorative and will not contain alternative text, in line with guidance by the W3C on decorative images.

This means some software may detect images that have no alternative text, but this does not mean these images are non-compliant.

Third party content

Third-party content such as FindaPhD, Spotify, Pathways, Microsoft Forms, YouTube videos and Google Maps are exempt from meeting accessibility regulations, though we do attempt to work with the providers of these services to make them as accessibility compliant as possible. Please note these are examples and not a comprehensive list of third-party content.

Some code, which is hosted by third parties and used for specific operational requirements such as digital advertising or for live chat functionality also does not fall within the scope of this statement. However, we remain conscientious of how this code may affect our users' experience on our website.

Pre-recorded video captions

Not all videos published on the website before 23 September 2020 have synchronised captions or a video transcript.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

To ensure full accessibility of our website, we undertake yearly comprehensive audits of the University of Bradford website.

All users are required to make any content they approve and produce for the University of Bradford website compliant with WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines.

As our website is only partially compliant, we’re currently working on:

  • Resolving all non-compliant accessibility issues.
  • Informing users about WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines and best practices.
  • Improving automated accessibility testing.

 

How we test this website

Members of the University Web Team audited the website using W3C's WCAG-EM Report Tool between 31 March and 10 April 2025 in preparation of this statement. This involved manually testing a representative sample of the HTML content of www.bradford.ac.uk.

The results of this audit are available for you to review by downloading the reports generated by WCAG-EM Report Tool.

More generally, several tactics are employed to help ensure our website is compliant while avoiding hinderances our users' experience on the website:

  • All new webpages on the website are tested for accessibility before going live.
  • We employ workflows at both a system and procedural level for pages we work on.
  • We proactively assess technologies and learn from our users' experience to improve our code and content.

In addition to the above, we use the following tools and platforms to help us determine how we perform against website accessibility according to the W3C WCAG. We use these tools in combination with our expertise and understanding of WCAG and never in isolation.

SiteImprove

We subscribe to SiteImprove which offers a website quality assurance and auditing tool.

At time of publishing, SiteImprove gives our website a score of 87.3 out of 100 based on how well we meet WCAG 2 guidelines. It is important to note that this score is not fixed nor representative and adjusts as we improve and add to our website.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse is an open-source webpage quality and performance audit tool. When auditing a webpage for accessibility, it focuses on the technical aspects concerning code and structure of webpages.

As an indicator, Lighthouse scores us 100/100 for accessibility for our website homepage on desktop devices, and we aim to mirror this score across all pages on the website.

Reporting accessibility problems or feedback

We recognise that every change, no matter how small, can make a difference to some users. 

If we can make our website more accessible to you, or you would like to raise an accessibility issue on behalf of others, you can contact us by emailing web-team@bradford.ac.uk. You can also email us for feedback on our accessibility statement or ethos. 

We will acknowledge your email as soon as possible during the University’s office hours. Though we may not be able to respond to your feedback straight away, we endeavour to keep you updated of any progress made. 

Requesting information as an alternative format

If you require information from this website as an accessible PDF, Word document or other format, please email marketing@bradford.ac.uk or web-team@bradford.ac.uk.

You can expect to receive a response from us within approximately 7-10 working days.

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’).

Contacting the Equality Advisory and Support Service

If you feel our response to your email is inadequate, or the issue is unresolved, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) for assistance.

Printing our accessibility statement

If you are viewing this webpage as a printed version or a document that has been previously saved to your personal device, you may not be viewing the latest version. Visit www.bradford.ac.uk/about/legal-and-governance/policies-statements/web-accessibility/accessibility-statement-website/ to ensure an up-to-date version of our accessibility statement.