Website Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Optalis website. The website provides information about the range of services we provide.

Home Website Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to www.optalis.org 

This website is run by Optalis. 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
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using 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. Or you can view the information below to adjust your device's settings.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the Non-accessible content section of this statement. 

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you. 

If you cannot view the map on our ‘locations’ page, call or email us for directions.

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: communciations@optalis.org.

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 phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

If you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, or use of an audio induction loop.  

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Optalis 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 and exemptions listed below. 

Non accessible content

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

Many of our PDFs and Office documents published before 23 September 2020 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 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2.  

We offer information essential to providing our services in a web only format, to allow people to access the information they need.  

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.  

Third-Party Content

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we endeavour to work with the third party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

Content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites and recruitment pages.

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

We have not identified any areas of the website that are non-compliant with the regulations and are not otherwise covered by exemptions. If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please contact us at communications@optalis.org.   

Disproportionate burden 

The accessibility regulations state that an organisation does not need to meet the accessibility requirement if this would put a disproportionate burden on them.

Some of our information on our website includes older news stories, which were transferred when the website was updated. Not all of our images and headings on these following the guidelines. It would be a disproportionate burden to update these.

Our assessment of the burden of updating these older news stories is that:

  • there are historical pages created by the organisation
  • each page would require some time to be updated
  • the information on the pages is not essential to providing our services

Also relevant to this decision are that:

  • Interest in these pages is low – few people access them
  • The pages do meet accessibility requirements for a large number of users, although some groups will find them difficult to navigate
  • On the pages we are proposing would represent a disproportionate burden, requests for additionally accessible versions are very rare
  • We have and will always assist with accessible versions on request

We consider that the costs of updating older pages where there is little evidence of demand would be a poor use of limited staff time, and would represent a disproportionate burden on the organisation in terms of cost. 

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

Live video

We do not have live video streams on this website.

Any new videos we add to our website will have subtitles formatted.

Online Maps

Our service includes the use of online maps to show certain geographical information. These are not used for navigational purposes and are exempt under the regulations. If you require the information presented in an online map in a different format, please call or email us to discuss reasonable adjustments. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 26 September 2021. It was last reviewed on 17 December 2024. 

This website was last tested on 16 December 2024. The testing is carried out internally, testing a random sample of pages. The testing is carried out using Accessibility Insights tool and Google Lighthouse.  

Page content is checked every time it is updated.