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

Please note, the content of this document is limited to the main corporate website hosted on the Contensis CMS platform and accessed via www.kcl.ac.uk. Other websites and portals have their own accessibility statements.

Using this website

The website is run by King’s College London and we want as many people as possible to be able to use it. For example, that means you should be able to (on pages in the new templates):

• Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• Set the font size and preference within your browser (except for section headings)
• Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• Skip to main content using keyboard navigation
• Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• Use screen readers such as JAWS 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 www.kcl.ac.uk are not fully accessible:

• some pages are on old webpage templates which are less accessible than new pages 
•  

Feedback and contact information 

If you find any problems not listed in this statement or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email diversity@kcl.ac.uk.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, email diversity@kcl.ac.uk.

We will consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.

If you need to escalate your issue further, contact the Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, via diversity@kcl.ac.uk. You can expect an acknowledgement of your issue within 7 days and a full reply within 14 days. If your complaint raises complex issues that cannot be answered within 14 days, we will keep you informed of progress until we can fully respond

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 the website accessibility

King’s College London is committed to making www.kcl.ac.uk 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• Some link text is used for multiple different destinations (WCAG 2.4.4)
• Bold tag has been added to format text which is not readable by screen-readers (1.3.1)
• Some link text is too generic in its current context (2.4.4)
• Some images do not have alternative text (1.1.1)
• “Font” tag used to format text (1.3.1)
• “b”, “i” and “u” tags used to format text (1.3.1)
• There is no alternative to some video/audio content (1.2.1)
• Some multimedia content is not captioned (1.2.2)
• In some cases, it is not possible to control audio that auto-plays (1.3.1)
• Some headings are not nested correctly (2.4.10)
• Not all decorative images are currently correctly identified
• Some iFrames are missing a title. This fails WCAG 2.1 level ‘A’ success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
• Colour contrast is insufficient on some pages across the site in terms of hero and image placement, content links, keyboard focus etc. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 ‘AA’ success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)).
• Keyboard navigation, including the ability to tab easily through content on some web pages, is not logical and intuitive. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 ‘A’ success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard access).
• Some elements are not highlighted on focus or have focus states with insufficient contrast. This fails WCAG 2.1 level ‘AA’ success criteria 2.4.7 (focus visible).

Disproportionate burden

Website Forms

Traditionally we have used multiple 3rd forms that are ‘skinned’ to look like our website. Some of these forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We are currently engaged in a project to bring all forms “in-house” on a fully support package. Therefore, will not be doing any fix work on the legacy ones and prioritising full replacement.

PDF documents

The website has over 19,000 PDFs, many over ten years old. Some of our content across the site is in PDF format where a durable format is needed. We will be reviewing all PDF documents that are essential for our services and converting these to accessible pages.

However, we've assessed the cost of fixing these documents. We believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). Please see section below on disproportionate burden for more information.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

King’s College London is committed to fixing or providing alternatives for all issues that we are made aware of or are identified by our internal testing and auditing processes.

Activities to improve the accessibility of this website are as follows:

• All new web templates are being fully tested to ensure they are compliant.
• All web editors have access to a tool that scans all pages on the site and reports on accessibility to allow users to identify errors.
• IT report on totals via internal social medial weekly to raise the issue with all website content editors.
• All web editors have access to free online training.
• Comprehensive guidance on creating accessible content has been created and disseminated to all content creators.

Preparation 

This statement was prepared on 3 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 25 September 2020.

This website was last tested on 4 September 2019 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The test was carried out by King's IT directorate. 

We tested:

• Main university homepage
• Faculty homepages
• Sample news pages
• Sample event records
• Sample course records