Accessibility Policy

The Catapult Network is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities. Our aim is to provide an inclusive and user-friendly experience by adhering to recognised accessibility standards.

Accessibility statement for our website

This statement applies to content published on the catapult.org.uk domain.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use and understand our website.

Our accessibility commitment includes making sure that our website visitors can:

How accessible this website is

Some parts of our website are not fully accessible. For example:

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format, email the web team: enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk

Include in your email the web address of the content (specific URL) and the format you need.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email the web team: enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the public sector bodies (websites and mobile applications) (No.2) accessibility regulations 2018.

If you make a complaint and you’re not happy with how we respond, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Innovate UK Catapult Network is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the public sector bodies (websites and mobile applications) (No. 2) accessibility regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the web content accessibility guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to certain non-compliances and exemptions.

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.

We are often required to publish documents quickly to the website and plan to retrospectively publish an accessible version once one is available.

Where documents are not in the format you need, you can get in touch with us at: enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk

Disproportionate burden: PDFs and other documents

We have assessed that fixing every document on catapult.org.uk 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 catapult.org.uk would not be justified, as the documents have a low level of usage.

We have prioritised ensuring the top 5% most viewed documents on catapult.org.uk are in an accessible format.

Content that’s not within the scope of the regulations: PDFs and other documents

Some of our older PDFs and Microsoft Office documents may not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be marked up so they are accessible to a screen reader. These include historic reports and case studies.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018. We will not replace these documents with accessible versions.

Where possible, any new PDFs or Microsoft Office documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. Where this is not possible, we will endeavour to make the information available in an accessible format.

If you need documents in a different format like accessible PDF, large print please email enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk

Content that’s not within the scope of the regulations: live video

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations: Focus visibility and colour contrast

We are developing our website to ensure focus visibility and colour contrast are accessible across all pages of our website.

Where focus visibility and colour contrast are hampering your use of the website, you can get in touch with us at: enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations: Alternative text

We are updating our website to ensure all imagery has alternative text to improve user experience.

Where images are without alternative text on the website, please let us know at: enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We’re working with the Government Digital Service to test the accessibility of the site for compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1.

As we continue to develop the website and its content, we will re-audit and test the website for accessibility on a regular basis.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 16th October 2024.

This website was last tested on 9th September 2024. The test was carried out by the Government Digital Service against WCAG 2.1 AA level compliance.

Last updated: 16th October 2024