Accessibility

We recognise the importance of providing a website that isaccessible to everyone. This includes people with sight problems, hearing,mobility and cognitive impairments as well as users with dial-up, olderbrowsers or newer technologies such as mobiles and PDAs. This statementoutlines the accessibility features of this website. If you have any commentsor suggestions about any aspect of the accessibility of this site, please don’thesitate to contact us.

Accessibility features

We have provided the features set out below to improve navigation for screenreader users, keyboard navigation and users of text-only browsers.

Navigation shortcuts

There is a short menu at the start of every page that allows you to jumpdirectly to the most important parts of the page, including main content andnavigation. Sighted people who use the keyboard to navigate will see theselinks appear on screen when using the Tab key to navigate through the page.Each shortcut has an access key assigned.

Access keys

Access keys are keyboard shortcuts that work instead of a mouse for navigation.These shortcuts can be accessed by pressing:
Alt and an Access Key when using Internet Explorer (Windows); and
Control and an Access Key when using Safari (Macintosh)
You then press Enter to activate the link.

The following access keys are available throughout the website:
n: Jump to Navigation
c: Jump to Content
0: Jump to Homepage

These access keys have been chosen to follow the UK government websiteguidelines where applicable. Wherever possible, they also avoid conflictingwith commonly used screen reader keyboard shortcuts.

Structured, semantic markup: headings and navigation menus

HTML heading tags are used to convey the document layout. H1 tags are used formain titles, H2 tags for subtitles, and so on. Navigation menus are marked upas HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out atthe start and it can be skipped easily.

Images

Where an image conveys important information, alternative text will beprovided. If the image is used for a decorative purpose the alternative textwill be left blank.

Style sheets, fonts, colours

This site uses software called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control all ofthe presentation and layout. If your browser or browsing device does notsupport style sheets, the use of structured semantic markup ensures that thecontent of each page is still readable and clearly structured.
Font sizes and colours can be changed by using your own custom style sheets orbrowser settings. The BBC has an excellent guide on how to do this for variousbrowsers and systems.

Scripting

The content on this site has been written and formatted to make it accessibleand the site is fully accessible if scripting is unavailable.

Standards compliance

The pages on this site conform at a minimum to Level A compliance as specifiedby the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and endorsed by the Royal NationalInstitute for the Blind (RNIB). This site also meets the Level AA requirements.Most of the pages validate as XHTML 1.0 Transitional and use structuredsemantic markup [to ensure that the code will work correctly on the majority ofweb browsers] and our CSS also validates the pages (to ensure that there are noerrors that may affect viewing). We are committed to providing services onlinein line with the Equality Act 2010 and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)1995, as required by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).

Text Relay Service

The Text Relay Service is a free service provided by BT which enables users ofstandard voice telephone to communicate with users of TextPhones and viceversa. All TLT employees have been issued with guidance on using the Text RelayService. If you would prefer to contact us using a Textphone or Minicom, pleasedo so using the appropriate Text Relay prefix when dialling any of TLT’stelephone numbers.
 
SMS (for D/deaf and hard of hearing)

+44 (0)786 000 2822