Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Heart of Worcestershire College website and was prepared in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. This accessibility statement was assessed by the Government Digital Service.

This website is run by Heart of Worcestershire College (HoW College). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and we're committed to providing web accessibility for everyone no matter how they access the web content. 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.

We hope that our website it easy to access however if you would like further tools to enhance your experience we've installed the Access Angel toolbar. Simply click on accessibility at the top of any of our pages to launch the toolbar where you'll have access to features such as text to speech, colour changes, different font styles and sizes and much more! 

How accessible this website is

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

• Some alt text is not picked up by screen readers
• Some elements of the page of poor colour contrast that make it difficult to distinguish between foreground and background colours
• Some links are not distinguished from surrounding text in a way that does not rely on colour
• Some of our pages and features are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• Most PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

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 please email accessreggroup@howcollege.ac.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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: accessreggroup@howcollege.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 telephone or visiting in person

Heart of Worcestershire College does not currently have a textphone. If you need to use this service we recommend that you contact the College via services such as Relay UK. To do so you will need to dial 18001 before the phone number you are calling. If you’re using a smartphone with the Relay UK app, 18001 is automatically included before the number you want to dial. 

If you are visiting us in-person, please contact us via accessreggroup@howcollege.ac.uk with any requirements you may need and we will do our best to facilitate. Please note that we don't have induction hoops on-site.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Heart of Worcestershire College is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

We are aware that this website is only partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. The non-accessible sections are listed below and have been identified following tests using AXE DevTools

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non- accessible content

WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content - Images

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We will continue to upload images with a text alternative to our website. We have worked through the current images on our site to ensure text alternatives are available. In some areas we are experiencing issues where functionality of images overrides the alt text however, we are working to rectify this with our web team

• All pages- At 400% zoom, the webpage does not reflow correctly and no content is visible for the users. The banners cover all content

We will continue to check all current and future documents across our website to ensure they meet accessibility requirements. Users of our website are also able to access accessible copies of documents by contacting accessreggroup@howcollege.ac.uk

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our Accessibility Regulation Group meet once a term to discuss improvements to cross-college accessibility functions. Terms of reference for this group can be found here

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 30th September 2026, and will be reviewed in 6 months time. 

Access Angel

The Access Angel cloud-based technology toolbar is available at the top of all of our webpages giving you the option to customise the content to consume it in a way that works best for you.

For help on accessibility visit My Web My Way

Helpful contacts

AbilityNet – provides free information and advice, individual assessment of technology needs, the supply of assistive technology with free support, a programme of awareness education, and consultancy for employers on system and workstation adaptations – http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/

The way to activate the accesskey depends on the browser and its platform:

Image source