Accessibility Statement

Which website does this statement cover?

This accessibility statement applies to the Gateshead College website, www.gateshead.ac.uk 

This website is run by Gateshead College with the support of Phonetic Digital.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • 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)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

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:

  • The cookie settings button doesn't have discernible text.
  • Some filter box and search filter buttons don't have keyboard focus.

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 [email protected]

-    Call 0191 490 0300

We will consider your request and get back to you in 20 working 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, contact: 

Helen Richardson at [email protected] 

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

Gateshead 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

The website is partially compliant with the requirements of the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The partial compliance is due to:

Some content having outstanding accessibility problems / non-compliance issues that we are currently working to fix

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 - non compliance with regulations

The following fail WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: 

All pages - cookie settings button doesn't have discernible text.

The following fail WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow

All pages - content can be presented without loss of information or functionality, and without requiring scrolling in two dimensions.

The following fail WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text

All pages - some images can't be visually customised to the user's requirements.

We plan to fix these issues with a new website build which will go live in February 2024.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

-   Working with a Digital Consultant with extensive experience of building accessible websites to build our new website.

-    Once the new site is live, we’ll run quarterly Lighthouse reports to check for any fixes required.

-    We will review this accessibility statement every year.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

It was last reviewed on 9 February 2024. It will be reviewed again on 9 February 2025.  

This website was last tested on 12/01/2023. The test was carried out by Allies Group.

We chose a sample of 11 pages that are essential to providing our services. These pages were tested using the WAVE Evaluation Tool and the Google Lighthouse Accessibility Audit as well as being manually checked.

Google Lighthouse Accessibility Audit Reports can be found here.