In some circumstances, it can currently take up to 4.5 months to conduct an initial assessment for some complaints, particularly if they are complex. We are doing everything we can to reduce this time. You can find average timescales for each stage of complaint handling across all types of complaints here.

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Website Accessibility Statement

We are committed to making our services easily accessible. In designing our offices, our procedures and this website, we have tried to ensure that we are as open and accessible as possible. The content below provides information on our commitment to accessibility and a full website accessibility statement.

Accessibility statement for ethicalstandards.org.uk

The Ethical Standards Commissioner 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 the website: https://www.ethicalstandards.org.uk.

This website is run by the Ethical Standards Commissioner. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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.

 

 

 

How accessible this website is

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

  • some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
  • most older document attachments are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some pages and document attachments have poor colour contrast
  • some aspects of your journey through our website is not fully accessible as there may not be an alternative format for content
  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • some pages and document attachments have images without alternative text

We are working to resolve these issues.

 

 

 

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: 

Karen Elder, Head of Corporate Services

Email: info@ethicalstandards.org.uk

call: 0131 347 3890

 

If you need information on this website in a different format such as large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us. We will consider your request and let you know how we can help as soon as possible. 
 

 

 

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).

 

 

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Ethical Standards Commissioner is committed to making its website 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 version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2

 

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

 

  • Some pages may be difficult to navigate due to structural mark-ups that do not represent relationships in the content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1
    • We are currently working with our website supplier to rectify structural issues. 

 

  • Some pages may be difficult to navigate due to a lack of meaningful sequences. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2.
    • We are currently working with our website supplier to rectify structural issues. 

 

  • Some hyperlinks on our webpages may be difficult for users with sight loss as there is insufficient colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1.
    • We are currently working with our website supplier to change the colours of hyperlinks. 

 

  • Some text on our website and PDF documents do not have sufficient colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3.
    • We are currently developing a new style guide that will implement compliant colours in all publications. We will audit PDFs on the website quarterly. All contrast issues on our website excluding PDF documents will be resolved by March 31 2024.

 

  • Some sections on our webpages may not scale appropriately when text is resized up to 200% and 400% zoom. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.4.
    • Our website supplier is currently working on a permanent solution. This will be resolved by March 31 2024. 

 

  • There are minor instances of images of text on our website which cause problems for users who adjust visual content. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.5.
    • We will try to format information where images of text are not used. In the chance they are, sufficient alternative text will be included. 

 

  • At 400% zoom in mobile view, our home page does not correctly display internal headings. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.10.
    • Our website supplier is working on resolving all reflow issues on our website. This issue will be resolved by March 31 2024. 

 

  • Some non-text features on our website do not have sufficient contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11.
    • We are currently working with our website supplier to amend contrast issues.

 

  • Some features such as the "read more" button on websites are not accessible using the keyboard. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.1.1.
    • Our website supplier is currently resolving this issue. This issue will be resolved by March 31 2024.

 

  • There are some occurrences of webpages and documents without sufficient titles to adequately identify the contents of the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.2.
    • Both PDF documents and new webpages will be titled appropriately before publication. This standard will be maintained through publication training.

 

  • Some links do not have discernible text or accessible names for an image which is the only content in a link. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4, 2.4.9, and 4.1.2.
    • We will ensure that all hyperlinked texts on our website have clear explanations to the link.

 

  • The cookie banner contains an "analytics" button that does not have enough visible focus. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 success criterion 2.4.7.
    • Our website supplier is currently working on a fix. This will be resolved by 31 March 2024.

 

  • Our PDF's do not indicate the language of a document which can prove difficult to screen readers. This fails WCAG success criterion 3.1.1.
    • We are producing a PDF publication standard for the organisation which will set the language of all published PDF's moving forward. 

 

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

 

Older PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

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. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish moving forward will meet accessibility standards.

 

 

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility
 

Support, guidance and training will be put in place for all ESC staff to increase awareness of accessibility and what our responsibilities are. This will be in place by February 2024. 

 

We will develop training for all staff on the publication of accessible documents. We are preparing a publication standard for all documents that will enable access for all readers. This will allow for any new documents on our website to meet accessibility requirements. 

 

We aim to maintain an open and consistent dialogue with our website supplier, committed to the most up to date accessibility standards. 

 

We plan to carry out a regular quarterly review of all publications being released on the website. This will ensure that PDF's on our website maintain an accessibility standard. 

 

We will remove any historical documents that are out of date and do not meet the accessibility requirements. 

 

 

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement
 

This statement was prepared on 6 December 2023. It was last reviewed on 6 December 2023.

This website was last tested on 29 November 2023. The test was carried out by Passion4Social. A user journey with 10 webpages was tested using both automated testing tools and manual testers. This audit was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. You can read the full accessibility test report.

Prior to this test, this website was last tested on 8 September 2023. This test was carried out by the Government Digital Service and the issues are still to be fixed. You can read the full accessibility test report.