Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for Edinburgh Law School Website 

Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This accessibility statement applies to https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/

This website is run by Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this application. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Using your browser settings, change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 200% 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 Job Access with Speech (JAWS), NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) and VoiceOver)
  • use the website even if JavaScript is turned off

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet - My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Not all no text content has alt text
  • Most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some videos don’t have captions
  • accessing all content may not be possible by using the keyboard alone, where online forms can be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • It can be difficult to tell where you have navigated to using keyboard only
  • Pop ups open without warning the users
  • Not all colour contrasts meet recommended guidance
  • Not all hyperlinks are meaningful hypertext
  • Not all buttons are correctly labelled meaning there are compatibility issues with screen readers
  • There may not be full compatibility with voice recognition software such as Dragon

Feedback and contact information

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

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service 

 Contact Scotland BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8am to 12 midnight, 7 days a week. 
Contact Scotland BSL service details

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications 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 (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard

Non accessible content

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

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:

  • Not all non-text content presented to users has alternative text.
  • Captions are not provided for all prerecorded audio/video content in synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labelled as such.
  • Audio description is not provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.
  • The heading structure is not always logically nested. One or more heading levels are skipped or used out of order. Also heading tags found with no content.
  • The way the content is presented affects its meaning, and a correct reading sequence is not programmatically determined.
  • There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is very small.
  • Information is conveyed as an image of text rather than as text itself, making it not compatible with screen readers and other assistive technology
  • It is not possible to access content within the homepage carousel using the keyboard only, navigation order is not always logical and the user must switch between tab and arrow keys without warning
  • Visual information to identify user interface components, such as keyboard focus, do not always have a sufficient contrast ratio
  • Pop ups open without the user being alerted
  • Duplicate ID attribute values found on some web pages
  • Anchor element found with no link content and no name and/or ID attribute, buttons were not labelled or labelled incorrectly, third-party video embed ARIA attribute does not conform to a valid value

We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility.

The issues relating to Non-Text Content; Focus Visible; Parsing; Name, Role, Value and On Input we believe to be largely within our control and look to fix by September 2026. The other remaining issues will be treated just as importantly as these issues we are to initially fix, and will be fixed as soon as possible on a case by case basis.

We are working towards solving these problems and expect significant improvements by September 30th 2026.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

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

PDFs

Many of our older PDFs are not fully accessible, for example, and they may not be easy to view using a screen reader. 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. For example, we do not plan to fix old articles in the News section that date back nearly a decade. Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have improved keyboard accessibility on the homepage, including making the carousel fully navigable using only a keyboard or screen reader. We continue to review and refine tab order, focus states, and interaction patterns to ensure users can navigate all areas of the site without a mouse.

We are auditing our content structure using the Little Forest accessibility tool to identify and fix issues with heading order and interface relationships. We’re also improving the use of ARIA roles and landmarks to support assistive technology users.

We’ve improved the homepage’s navigation sequence and are continuing to address tabbing issues and key-switching problems on other pages. This includes reviewing DOM order and updating tabindex values to ensure a logical, predictable user experience.

We are auditing all images using Little Forest to identify and fix missing or unhelpful alternative text. Our editors have received training on writing meaningful alt text.

We have introduced high-contrast, consistent focus indicators across the site to improve navigation for keyboard users. These enhancements improve visibility in areas where focus outlines were previously unclear or low contrast.

We have resolved issues with mislabelled buttons and inconsistent tooltips by applying clear ARIA labels and accessible naming conventions. We continue to test and validate components using assistive technologies.

We are reviewing existing videos to add human-edited captions and are ensuring that all new video content includes accurate captions by default. Guidance and training have been provided to content creators to support this process.

We are assessing video content for essential visual-only information and adding audio descriptions or transcripts where needed. Accessibility checks are now part of our video production workflow for future content.

Using Little Forest, we are identifying and resolving low-contrast text issues, particularly where text overlaps images or uses muted colours. We are also training editors and updating styles to meet the WCAG 4.5:1 contrast ratio.

We are replacing text within images—particularly in banners and article headings—with HTML text for better readability and accessibility. Where images of text remain or are unavoidable, such as logos, we provide meaningful alt text.

We are reviewing site links and interactions to ensure users are warned when a new tab, window, or pop-up will open. Where possible, we are avoiding pop-ups in favour of more accessible alternatives.

We regularly scan for code errors such as duplicate IDs using Little Forest and other validators. We are also reinforcing best practice among developers and editors to prevent parsing issues during content creation.

Our existing design was produced by a 3rd party design agency. This relationship has been paused for some time now, and any changes to the codebase are largely managed in-house.

We are looking to move in time to the University's EdWeb 2 Website Publishing Platform, a managed Content Management System which also incorporates the University Design System. All content will be moved to this new platform. During this time we plan to fix many of our current accessibility issues.

The University has published a web strategy and governance approach:

University of Edinburgh Web Strategy

We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted, alongside working to deliver a solution or suitable workaround. We are working towards solving these problems and expect significant improvements by September 30th 2026.

While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, or where we are unable, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.

Accessibility improvements

Accessibility improvements, bug fixes and development work to fix issues will be recorded to keep a record of work completed.

Accessibility improvements

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17th May 2019. It was last reviewed on 22nd July 2025

This website was last tested by the Disability Information Office, University of Edinburgh in April 2023 using automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using Microsoft Edge (103.0.1264.37) alongside Mozilla Firefox (91.9.1esr) and Google Chrome.

Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:

WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey

The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.

We ran automated testing using Little Forest, Wave WEBAIM and AXE browser extension then manual testing that included:

  • Spell check functionality;
  • Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
  • Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
  • Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
  • Data validation;
  • Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
  • Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
  • Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
  • Operability if JavaScript is disabled;
  • Use with screen reading software (for example JAWS);
  • Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
  • Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
  • Time limits;
  • Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS).

Change log

Accessibility improvements, bug fixes and development work to fix issues will be recorded here to keep a record of work completed.

Change log of accessibility improvements

Accessibility