Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the accreditation.sqa.org.uk domain.

This website is run by SQA. 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 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader

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 fully accessible:

• Many pages and documents are not written in plain English.
• Some documents are in PDF format and are not fully accessible.
• It is not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
• Figures, graphics and images in documents may have missing or incorrect alternative text attributes.
• Some PDFs are not tagged.
• Some images have the image file name as alternative text.
• Some documents have a blank document title.
• Word documents may contain a non-inline graphic or objects.
• Some headings are not consistent.
• You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text.
• Live video streams do not have captions.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact: accreditation@sqa.org.uk.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print or braille: please contact accreditation@sqa.org.uk

We aim to provide a full response to enquiries within five working days. If your enquiry is complex, we may need to refer it to another team; in these cases, we aim to provide a full response within 20 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’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

SQA Accreditation 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) [2.1] AA standard.

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

• Some documents contain graphics without a text alternative. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
• Alternative text should not be an image file name. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1(Non-text Content).
• PDFs are not tagged to be accessible by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
• Some headings are not presented in logical order. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
• Word documents contain a non-inline graphic or object. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence).
• Some document titles are blank. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled).
• PDFs missing PDF/UA identifier. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships), 2.4.2 (Page Titled).
• Missing language attribute to identify the language of the page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page).

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

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services and do not form part of our day-to-day functions.

We do not plan to fix documents that were published before 23 September 2018, unless asked by a user. 

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

• We plan to fix issues shown above by September 2024.
• Providing accessibility training for our staff (in progress).
• Preparation for the introduction of the WCAG 2.2 standard (due September 2024).
• Fixing website markup (this includes template changes, coding errors, fixing images) by December 2024.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 June 2019. It was last reviewed on 9 July 2024. This website was last tested on 13 June 2024 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. This test included the use of our automated accessibility tool, Powermapper (SortSite)