Our digital learning content aims to comply, where applicable, with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA, and these standards are embedded throughout our production processes and routinely reviewed.

These practices include, but aren't limited to, the details in the table below.

Accessibility guidelines are written for websites and although we use web technologies to create our content, there is often conflict between full compliance and creating engaging, interactive learning experiences.

We’ve taken careful consideration of the guidelines to find a balance that works with the development tools available to us (Evolve Authoring and Articulate Rise), and we regularly review the capabilities of these tools to find accessible solutions.
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​AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you require further guidance.

Where there are limitations in how mobile screen readers interact with eLearning creation tools, we have established inclusive design practices to support our mobile-first strategy.

As the Access Group has grown through acquisition, our catalogues are in varying states of compliance with the above guidelines. We have quarterly release roadmaps in place to bring the content up to WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

Some content is not yet fully accessible. We have implemented an Accessibility Tools Service, which can be activated on any page of the website. The Accessibility Service provides easy access to all accessibility options and is a key part of our accessibility programme that we are undertaking with a third-party company (EqualWeb) that specialises in accessibility, to ensure as many people as possible can use the website.

This catalogue consists of content from multiple acquisitions and therefore accessibility standards vary. As the product evolves, it is our priority to improve its accessibility in line with WCAG 2.2 AA standards.

The Cyber catalogue meets our current strategy and undergoes scheduled maintenance reviews to ensure compliance.

Our legacy content will be evolved over time to comply with current strategy.

All of our new and updated Health and Safety content aims to adhere to the current strategy. We perform accessibility tests using NVDA and Android Talkback. Our legacy content contains full voiceover throughout the learning, but this content is not yet fully accessible.

Learning for Care includes a user-controlled voice-over narration for every word on the screen. All colour palettes used in courses adhere to the WCAG Level AA ensuring all text is easy to read on a plain colour background and improving user readability.

The dyslexia-friendly font Open Sans is used in all courses, and we no longer use capital letters and italics for emphasis as this can make text appear to run together and change shape.

eCompetency are not the optimum product for those with accessibility needs. They can be accessed on computers and tablets, but mobile screens are too small to display the rendered environment clearly enough to detect hazards. They are not compatible with screen readers. Where staff cannot be supported on a computer, consider assessing competency in the workplace.

Some legacy content will not be fully accessible to desktop screen readers and may not be fully mobile accessible, though we have almost completed our evolution program to bring all content in line with our current strategy.

Courses have been tested with the JAWS screen reader on multiple desktop browsers apart from Safari.

Videos without audio also now include transcripts. Newer courses are taking into consideration the colours of backgrounds and text to make the content easier to read.

We are working to review and update legacy courses each quarter to gradually bring our library up to the appropriate accessibility standards.

The Bookboon catalogue consists of three formats.

Whilst some legacy video content will not be fully accessible, improvements can be identified within more recent releases. Our newer videos make use of the dyslexia-friendly font Lexend, with longer extracts being left aligned for increased readability.

Colour palettes are now tested for colour blindness and contrast accessibility, ensuring text adheres to recommended contrast ratios.

Closed captions are turned on by default on our website following the ‘Turn on the Subtitles’ campaign.

All information relating to platform is available on the Access GCSEPod website.

Our e-learning courses utilise industry-leading translation services to provide content in multiple languages. However, it’s important to note that translations may not always fully capture the intended meaning or nuances of the original English content. Therefore, the English version of the courses remains the primary source of truth for all information and content.

Video content features open captions, which are edited into the video files, ensuring that those who are deaf or hard of hearing can fully engage with our content.

We employ tools like the Adobe plugin Stark to rigorously test colour contrast, use accessible sans serif fonts like Roboto and Montserrat.

Our content is thoroughly tested on both Windows and Mac platforms using NVDA and Voiceover Mac screenreaders.

The Access Group also makes third-party content available to customers through its web services. Finance Unlocked, CIFAS, CII, Video Arts and Time2Study maintain their content in line with their own internal accessibility standards.

We welcome any feedback on our content to improve our accessibility offering and we are looking for contributors with accessibility needs to participate in user testing to help us refine our approach. Please provide feedback using this form.

This statement was last reviewed on 1 May 2024.