Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the incubator for mental health research website https://mentalhealthresearch.org.uk/  

The University of Oxford and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) are committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to the information on mental health research and activities offered publicly through the web. 

Our aims

This website is run by the Mental Health Research team and web developer Mode2 Ltd. 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 500% without the text spilling off the screen  
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software  
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader  

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 are aware that some parts of our website are not fully accessible. These include: 

  • Some text and images have low contrast levels 
  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text 
  • Not all of the website can be accessed using just a keyboard and blocks of links and other interactive elements cannot be bypassed by keyboard users 

We are working to address areas where our accessibility needs improvement. Please see our ‘Known Issues‘ report below for more details. 

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, please email the Mental Health Research team at mhresearch@psych.ox.ac.uk  

We will consider your request and get back to you in 14 days. 

Reporting accessibility problems

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, please email the Mental Health Research team at mhresearch@psych.ox.ac.uk  

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). 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Mental Health Research team based at University of Oxford is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. 

This website is mostly compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance and exemptions listed on our ‘’Known Issues’ report below. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this we will: 

  • Fix known issues 
  • Check all new features in WordPress, which was used to create this website, for accessibility before they are made available 
  • Check all new content for accessibility 
  • Train all content editors on accessibility 
  • Carry out periodic accessibility checks 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 1 October 2020. It was last reviewed on 4 November 2020. 

This website was last tested in November 2020. The test was carried out by the Mental Health Research team and web developer Mode2 Ltd using a carefully chosen sample of pages and content types.  

The pages were checked manually using a combination of the following methods: 

  • Checked against WCAG 2.1 guidelines, with a focus on the items in the Gov.uk’s WCAG 2.1 Primer Checklist.   
  • Viewed on a small screen and on a mobile 

Once the website is live, it will also be checked using the WebAim’s Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. 

 You can read the full ‘Known Issues’ report below. 

Accessibility Known Issues 

This report lists only known non-accessible issues. 

Keyboard operability

Not all content on the website can be accessed using keyboard only and blocks of links and other interactive elements cannot be bypassed by keyboard users. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1. and 2.1.4. 

  • We are working with the website developer to fix these keyboard operability issues over the coming months  

Content

The line height, spacing between paragraphs and letter and word spacing cannot be changed without loss of content or functionality. This means that people with low vision, dyslexia or cognitive disabilities may struggle to read the text or lose content or functionality. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12. 

  • We are working with the website developer to fix these issues over the coming months 

Issues with content management system (CMS)

The CMS code is being checked to ensure that it meets the robust accessibility criteria 4.1.1, 4.1.2 & 4.1.3. 

Disproportionate burden

We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant by September 2021.