Accessibility statements

The following accessibility statement applies to the website www.sgul.ac.uk. 

This website is run by St George’s, University of London. We want to make sure that our website can be used by as many people as possible. 

 For example, that means you should be able to: 

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts 
• zoom in to up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen 
• navigate most of the website using just your keyboard 
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software 
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader. 

We have also tried to make the text on our website 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, such as: 

• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software 
• some images do not have alternative text 
• some video embeds do not have captions 
• some elements on embedded items cannot be tabbed through using your keyboard 
• elements on our online forms are difficult to use using only your keyboard 
• a small number of elements are cut off when zoomed in to at 200% 
• results in our site search may be skipped over or unrecognisable by assistive technologies.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please get in touch by emailing webdevelopment@sgul.ac.uk. 

We will consider your request and respond in 10 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact our Digital Team by emailing webdevelopment@sgul.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). 

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person 

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.  

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.  

Find out how to contact us.  

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

St George’s, University of London 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 listed below. 

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

Some of our images do not have a useful alternative text, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1. We are working through existing content to update this which we plan to have completed by December 2024. We are also training local editors to make sure new content meets accessibility standards.  

Many of our PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards (e.g. they may not be structured to be accessible for a screen reader). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). We have worked to replace as many essential historic documents as HTML pages or accessible files and train local editors to implement accessible versions of new documents that are created. 

When zoomed at 200% or more our card slider card element is cut off, meaning it cannot be fully viewed. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text). However, arrow keys to scroll through these items are still available and can be used to view all items in the slider. 

Multiple static elements have the same ID attribute: live-search-listing meaning assistive technologies may skip over or fail to recognise the difference between elements causing misinterpretations of content or functionality for users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 (parsing). This issue relates to a custom search control which our developers are investigating to find a resolution which meets accessibility standards. 

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations 

PDFs and other documents 

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standard, for example they may not be structured in a way that is accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2. 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. 

We will aim to replace as many essential historic PDFs and Word documents as HTML pages or accessible files and will train local editors to implement accessible versions of new documents that are created.  

Audio and video content 

Prerecorded audio and video content is unlikely to be accompanied with alternative text, captions, audio description or sign language interpretation.  

This fails the following success criteria:  

• 1.1.1 (non-text content)
• 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only - prerecorded) 
• 1.2.2 (captions – prerecorded) 
• 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative - prerecorded) 
• 1.2.5 (audio description - prerecorded) 
• 1.2.6 (sign language - prerecorded) 
• 1.2.7 (extended audio description - prerecorded) 
• 1.2.8 (media alternative - prerecorded). 

All embedded videos on our website are from YouTube and therefore provide captions for users who need them.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility 

We are compiling changes to functionality that we can feasibly make to our site that will improve accessibility.  

We ensure that all local editors that are trained understand the importance of accessibility and are given guidance on this when becoming editors on the site. As well as this we are also engaging with owners of any St George’s-owned microsites to ensure that they are aware of and consider accessibility as part of their own content and functionality, especially at the conception of a new project. 

We also plan to introduce regular accessibility testing to monitor for non-compliance with WCAG 2.1 guidelines. 

How we test accessibility

Our Digital Team regularly check and test pages for accessibility purposes and to check that our site is accessibile for the people who need to use it based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.

We use the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool to test the pages on our site. This online tool identifies accessibility and WCAG errors.

Preparation of this statement 

This statement was prepared on 26 September 2019. It was last reviewed and updated on 19 January 2024. 

• Accommodation 

• Alma (Exlibris) 

• Canvas

• Elements (aka CRIS) (Symplectic)  

• Figshare 

• FRIS 

• Jobs at St George’s, Recruitment 

• LibGuides and LibCal (Springshare)

• Myprogress 

• My Reading List

• My Showcase 

• My WorkPlace 

• OpenLabyrinth 

• Panopto

• Room booking (Scientia)

• SITS e:Vision  

• Unitu

• Wordpress Library Blog