Accessibility

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Accessibility Statement for Scottish Water

 

We're continuously working to make scottishwater.co.uk as accessible and usable as possible for all abilities and disabilities. This includes older audiences and those with visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments.

 

We try to make our site easy to use with assistive technologies by using:

  • easier-to-read colours
  • larger fonts
  • plain English
  • keyboard-only navigation

Feedback and Contact Information 

  • If you cannot access any part of this site or want to report an accessibility problem, please contact us at: email: webteam@scottishwater.co.uk
  • customer helpline: 0800 0778 778
  • post: The Bridge, 6 Buchanan Gate, Stepps, Glasgow, G33 6FB.

Enforcement Procedure

 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission enforces the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

If you're not happy with how we respond to your feedback, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service. They are an independent advice service. They will advise you on what to do next.

Compliance Status 

Scottish Water is committed to making its website accessible in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities, and user-friendly for everyone. The guidelines have three levels of accessibility (A, AA and AAA). We’ve chosen Level AA as the target for the Scottish Water website. 

 

This accessibility statement applies to scottishwater.co.uk.

 

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, AA standard, due to the non-compliances and the exemptions listed below

Non-Accessible Content

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

WCAG 1.3.1 Some PDFs and Other Documents are not fully accessible - WCAG 1.3.1

Some document formats on scottishwater.co.uk , such as PDF, MS Word, and Excel may not be fully accessible. We are working to make these documents accessible via automated tools to ensure full accessibility of documents going forwards. We expect this to be implemented early 2024. Funding for this is currently going through our governance process.

WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled (PDF): Some page titles may be missing with the document settings.

WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content (PDF): Some documents have elements that do not have alternative text

WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text: Some images are complex images that contain substantial information – more than can be conveyed in a short phrase or sentence. These are typically:

• graphs and charts, including flow charts and organizational charts;
• diagrams and illustrations where the page text relies on the user being able to understand the image;
• maps showing locations or other information such as weather systems.

Video Content

WCAG 1.2.2 Some video content may be non-accessble

Some video content on Scottish Water may not be fully accessible due to the age of the material and training requirements.

  • Captions (Live)
    Long-term training staff to include captions in all videos

  • Audio Description (Prerecorded)
    Long-term addressing this through technology that is automated.

  • Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
    Long-term, addressing this through technology that is automated.

  • Captions (Prerecorded)
    Long-term, training staff to include captions in all videos

Not within the scope of the regulations

The accessibility regulations do not cover PDF or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services.

Accessibility Toolbar

When visiting our website, on any device, you can now use the ReciteMe assistive technology toolbar to customise and view content on our website in a way that suits you. This toolbar allows you to do things such as change the language in which information is presented; have the information on the screen read out to you, and much more. You can access the toolbar on our website by clicking on 'Accessibility Toolbar' within the top menu, beside our search bar.


The ReciteMe accessibility toolbar user guide can be found here.

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement was prepared on 22 January 2024.

Scottish Water uses Deque Axe® Accessibility Testing Tools to test and review this website. We are in the process of implementing automated checks on content/PDFs being published to ensure they are compliant. This website was last reviewed on 22 January 2024 and will be monitored weekly.

Some updates have been made to meet website accessibility regulations as per the guidance at

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps.

The most recent updates include: 

• WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard: The cookie banner icon cannot be opened using the keyboard