Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the website for Southport College, including mobile responsive versions of these websites.

This website is run by Southport Education Group. 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.

How accessible this website is

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

• the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• live video streams do not have captions some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page

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:

• email: reception@southport.ac.uk
• call: 01704 500606 We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days, during term time.

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:

• email: reception@southport.ac.uk
• call: 01704 500606

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. Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter. Find out how to contact us –

• email: reception@southport.ac.uk
• call: 01704 500606

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 - Non text content.
• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 - Name role value.
• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 - Info and relationships.
• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 - Parsing.
• There exists a failure for WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.6 - Contrast enhanced.

Disproportionate burden

We have worked with our existing supplier to rectify as many issues as possible within the scope of the existing site and within any financial constraints. We believe the issues above will be corrected in early 2026.

Interactive tools and transactions

• Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.
• Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.
  
  We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, this will be by October 2026

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

• Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
• Live video
• We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working to improve accessibility as quickly as a possible, including providing guidance to all staff on how to create accessible content.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 30/04/2025. This website was last tested on 29/04/2025. The test was carried out by Southport Education Group using the web2access checker tool. We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test. We sampled the pages with the highest traffic.
You can read the full accessibility test report here.

We tested both our main website/platform, available at www.southport.ac.uk and other parts of the website, available at: