Accessibility statement for Newcastle City Learning

Using this website

This accessibility statement applies to www.newcastlecitylearning.ac.uk. This website is run by Newcastle City Council. 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 using browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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, such as:

  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • our Find a Course system has display issues when zoomed in and navigation issues when using a keyboard

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us:

  • Email: corporatecommunications@newcastle.gov.uk
  • Telephone: 0191 211 5094
  • In Writing, at: Newcastle City Council, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH

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

  • corporatecommunications@newcastle.gov.uk
  • 0191 211 5094

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in within 3 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

Newcastle City Council 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) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our PDFs and other document types may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

We are developing a document format using html web pages, which will be more accessible than PDFs.

We are working with suppliers and third parties to ensure that the accessibility of documents is planned for at creation.

These PDF documents may fail to meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content) and 1.4.3 (Contrast minimum).

  • Where documents are not in the format you need, you can request an alternative by emailing corporatecommunications@newcastle.gov.uk

Disproportionate burden

PDFs and other documents

We have assessed that fixing every document on Newcastle City Learning would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

We believe that the benefit of assigning staff to immediately fix all documents on Newcastle City Learning would not be justified, as the documents are large and have a low level of usage.

As new versions of the documents become available to replace these non-compliant PDFs we will ensure that they are accessible.

A full explanation of our reasons and justification are given in our disproportionate burden statement.

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

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Third party content

Student login and find a course systems

Through our accessibility audits we have found issues with systems provided by third party suppliers.

Particularly this affects the student login and find a course pages.

These pages may fail to meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible), 1.4.10 (reflow) and 1.4.3 (contrast).

We have no direct ability to modify these systems to rectify the issues but have requested our supplier make changes to remedy them as soon as possible.

If you have problems using these pages and would like assistance or information in an alternate format please contact corporatecommunications@newcastle.gov.uk.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 February 2024. It was updated on 13 March 2024.

This website was last tested on 28 February 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

The test was carried out by Newcastle City Council. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.