Accessibility

Accessing our services

If you have specific needs, we will make reasonable adjustments wherever possible. You can tell us about your needs by contacting us. Please explain exactly what you need, and we will let you know what we can do.

Website Accessibility 

The Standards Commission is committed to making our website as accessible as possible to everyone, regardless of the technology being used or the ability of the user. If you find any problems when using our website or think we are not meeting the accessibility requirements please let us know so we can continue to look at improving our website.  

You can find out more about web accessibility standards at the following web link: www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility (link is external).

Using the website

You can change the size of the text and the colour contrast on the site using the controls provided at the top of every page.

Further sources of advice 

Ability Net also have a free guide 'My Computer My Way' which provides information and instructions on how to access a range of accessibility features on laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

Compliance Statement

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to  the following exemptions listed below.

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

PDF and other documents

We publish files on our website using a variety of electronic file formats. Most of our publications are available in PDF and Word format. If your screen reader has any difficulties on the site, please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.

To read PDF documents you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader which you can download for free from the Adobe Website. If you want to access PDF documents with a screen reader please refer to the accessibility information on the Adobe website which provides useful tools and resources.  

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018

Live video

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

Do you use British Sign Language (BSL)?

BSL users can contact us by using contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the online British Sign Language interpreting service. Find out more information about this service on the contactSCOTLAND-BSL website. If you are visiting our office and require British Sign Language interpreting, please email to make an enquiry about making arrangements for this service. 

This video tells you more about the BSL service.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission enforces the accessibility regulations (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.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10 March 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020.