Accessibility statement for the Standards Commission for Scotland

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.

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.

Feedback and contact information

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. Our email address is enquiries@standardscommission.org.uk or you can call us on 0131 348 6666.

Further sources of advice 

Ability Net 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.

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.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The Standards Commission is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to www.standardscomissionscotland.org.uk.

Compliance status

This website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.

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

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reason(s):

(a)  Disproportionate burden

The disproportionate burden exemption, within the meaning of the accessibility regulations, is being temporarily invoked for the following issues

(i) WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard. The colour contrast and text size buttons at the top of the webpage are not accessible using the keyboard.

(ii) WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible. At 200% zoom the keyboard focus is not visible after tabbing from the magnifying glass.

(iii) WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard. When using the zoom function, the hamburger menu and magnifying glass are not accessible using the keyboard.

(iv) WCAG 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus. When hovering over the navigation bar dropdown menus, there is no mechanism to dismiss the additional content triggered without moving pointer hover or keyboard focus.

(v) WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum). There are colour contrast issues across certain webpages.

(vi) WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) and WCAG 1.1.1 Non text content. Documents contain elements that do not have sufficient colour contrast and elements that do not have alternative text.

(vii) WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. Page titles are missing within the settings of PDF documents.

(viii) WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose. Not all links have discernible text.

The Standards Commission has assessed the cost of fixing the issues. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment in 2024.

(b) The content is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

(i)   PDF and other documents. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10 March 2020. It was last reviewed on 1 February 2024.

This website was last tested on 6 October 2023 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. The test was carried out by the Government Digital Service. We will carry out a full review of the website content in 2024 and create a list of improvement actions to be completed by 31 December 2024.

The full report can be read at Standards Commission accessibility report.

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 (the accessibility regulations).

If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.