Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to www.bmet.ac.uk run by Birmingham Metropolitan College

As a large organisation, we have a number of websites, platforms and mobile applications that are currently being reviewed and will have their own accessibility statements.

Our website and associated content is designed for as many as people as possible in mind, and we are committed to providing a website that is accessible to all users and one that provides a positive user experience.

As a user of our website with accessible needs, you should be able to:

• Use Recite functionality for enhanced access with built in screen reader
• Change colours and contrast levels
• Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

In addition to the above, there are customisation tools available via your browser or personal device that will improve your online experience if you have a disability. AbilityNet – How to use My Computer My Way has step-by-step advice on making your computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone easier to use.

We have also made this website text as simple as possible to understand.

How accessible this website is

We are fully committed to improving our user experience and accessible, but we know some parts of the website are not fully accessible. This includes:

• Older PDF’s published before published before 23 September 2018 are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Some of our online forms are built outside our site using third-party software and maybe difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

Feedback and contact information

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

email    ask@bmet.ac.uk

call        0121 446 4545

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

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, please contact: ask@bmet.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) (https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

If you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us on https://www.bmet.ac.uk/contact/

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Birmingham Metropolitan College 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

We regularly test and monitor our website content for accessibility as we are committed to ensuring a positive user experience whilst meeting current WCAG 2.2 AA standards.

Whilst we have implemented process for the ongoing maintenance of this site, not all elements will work for everyone. The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The content listed below are issues and bugs we need to resolve as a matter of urgency on our site

• Some of our colour contrast showing text against images or colours may not meet the regulations 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)(Level AA) Icon Index.
• Some older images may not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text
  content)

Disproportionate burden

In some instances, there may be issues with our website that cannot be resolved straight away. This may be because the cost of fixing the issues would place a disproportionate burden on the College within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

Much of the failure to the Accessibility regulations relates to the design, colour and contrast of the website and the site templates with hard coded elements not available to the CMS.
Procuring a new website is a considerable cost alongside the cost of changing all rebranding the college to align with the web site. The college considered this to be a disproportionate
burden and therefore completed the statement accordingly.

What we’re doing to address these issues

Accordingly, we intend to iterate the changes of the existing web site.

• Since April 2021 we have significantly reduced the number of related errors and continue to iterate changes when redesigning areas of the web site. Another update is due in November 2022 and we will continue to improve within our financial constraints.
• In October 2022 our integration partners changed, this allows us more freedom to make changes to the existing web site at a lower cost to the College.
• By February 2023 we intend to create a new Accessible focussed digital colour palette to enable our assets not to have to change across the College and the burden
  it would bring.

You can read the full accessibility test report here and see the continual improvement over time until we are able to update the web site completely

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

Whilst we make every effort to ensure our website is accessible for everyone, there is some content that we are not fixing straightaway as a priority. This content is currently exempt under accessibility legislation.

• Portable Document Formats (PDFs) and other documents

Current accessibility regulations do not require us to update PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. However, we are ensuring any new PDFs or documents we publish in the future will meet accessibility standards. If you have any issues in accessing older documents, please email us at ask@bmet.ac.uk and we’ll endeavour to provide the information in an alternative format.

• Live video

Occasionally, we host live video streaming from our website for large corporate events. In some cases, we are able to offer live captioning to our viewers. However, this is not available for all events and it is advised to check prior to the event if this is available. Please note, live video captioning is exempt from meeting current accessibility regulations.

• Maps

Our website hosts a number of online maps or maps within PDFs. Where a map is available, alternative information is also displayed on the same page. If you require additional directional information to one of our campuses, please call 0121 446 4545

• Third-party content

Our website contains third-party content such as social media links and embedded content from other providers. We do not have control over this and are not responsible under accessibility guidelines for this content. However, we do work with our third-party suppliers to improve accessibility and our user experience wherever possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was created on 14th April 2021.  It was last reviewed on 30th September 2022 and update on the 12th October 2022.

This website was last tested on 30th September 2022. The test was carried out by the Birmingham Metropolitan College and its agents.

We used this approach using a sample of pages to test using WebAIM. A live test can be seen here and we welcome ideas for improvement