Accessibility Statement

This statement was prepared on 22 April 2021. It was last updated on 24 May 2021.

At the University of Birmingham, we want to ensure that as many people as possible can use our website, and we are working to improve our digital services.

This accessibility statement covers this website [https://studentaccommodation.bham.ac.uk/StarRezPortalX/] as the University of Birmingham’s accommodation portal. We aim to achieve the recommended government standard for web accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA). We also test with users of varied needs and on different assistive devices.

As a user with accessible needs, you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • 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 also aim to make 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. We are working on these parts of the site and are committed to producing an accessible site for all users. Those parts with accessibility problems are as follows:

  • Not all form controls have labels
  • Some pages are being shown as forms without a ‘submit’ button
  • Some text elements could have a higher contrast ratio
  • Some links open in a new tab
  • Some links could better explain their purpose

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email csmarketing@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website and are continuing to audit our content. If you find something that you are unable to access, or we have failed to identify a barrier, please let us know.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email csmarketing@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

If you are unhappy with the response you have received from the University about your accessibility-related issue, you can make a complaint to the University by emailing accessibility-complaint@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

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

We, the University of Birmingham, are committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances described below.

Labels need to be added to form controls to explain their purpose

This is so that accessible technologies such as a screen reader can read them out to users.

WCAG 2.1 ‘A’ 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)

The menu bar and footer need to be marked as lists

Lists of related links, for the purpose of navigated need to be written semantically as a list, in order to enable assistive technologies to more easily navigate from item to item or to skip groups of links.

WCAG 2.1 ‘A’ 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)

Some pages are presenting their content as a form

This means that a submit button is expected but is not present.

WCAG 2.1 ‘A’ 3.2.2 (Predictable)

Not all event handlers are accessible

Checkboxes are not always accessible to both mouse and keyboard.

To be fully accessible, critical JavaScript interaction should be device independent.

WCAG 2.1 ‘A’ 2.1.1 (Keyboard)

Links need to be distinguishable by more than just colour

To assist users with visual impairments, links must be appear visually distinct from regular text (e.g. underlined)

WCAG 2.1 'A' 1.4.1 (Use of colour)

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 21 April 2021. The test was carried out by University staff using a selection of automated tools, which include:

The pages we tested

We tested the following pages as they contain the main features across the site and cover the different page templates used.

Please note the majority of these pages require student authentication and conditional data against your account.

Home
Application
Booking management