Helpdesk (TOPdesk) accessibility statement

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Please contact us if you have an accessibility query including:

• If you are experiencing issues with accessing information or using the website
• If you find an accessibility problem not listed on this statement
• If you have positive feedback on the accessibility considerations made. 

When you contact us there is a process in place that will acknowledge your contact, tell you who is dealing with it and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply.

We have designed our content to be as accessible as possible. If you still experience barriers, you can request alternative formats. For more information please contact us.

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 the University of Kent’s webmaster to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our systems. 

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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

The University of Kent is committed to making this website and associated subdomains 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 and exemptions listed below.

We formally test the accessibility of key user journeys that represent the breadth of content across our website on a regular basis against WCAG 2.1 AA standards. 

Some parts of the website may not work for everyone. Below are known issues that we either need to fix, cannot fix, or do not need to fix right now.

If you find an issue that we have missed please contact us.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

This section covers issues that we need to fix and are working to do so.

Known limitations for TOPdesk:

1. Setting up a workable environment for operators: While the primary operator workflow of TOPdesk is accessible, it takes some effort to set up appropriately for a visually impaired person. The setup requires someone who isn't visually impaired.
2. Most modules of TOPdesk were built when accessibility was not an active consideration. The interfaces of these modules will be replaced eventually, but have limitations until then. We focus our effort on most-used functionalities, such as the incident card and the Self-Service portal. All new projects (including replacement projects) take accessibility into account, slowly closing these gaps.

The TOPdesk accessibility page contains further information.

Links without meaningful purpose

Some of the links are not labelled clearly. This means that the links do not make sense when they are taken out of context, and for some links it is not possible to know what the purpose of the link is (WCAG: 2.4.4).

Contrast Issues

Some pages contain elements with low contrast between the elements and its background particularly when under focus. This can cause the text to be difficult to read, especially for those with low vision, poor eyesight or colour blindness. 

Helpdesk is developed by a third-party, TOPdesk, with customisation applied locally by the university. Thus some of the issues with the colour contrast may be fixed by Kent, however, some issues may be part of the TOPdesk platform that we cannot control (WCAG: 1.4.3).

Landmarks and elements with duplicate labels and IDs.

Some of the elements on the page have duplicate labels. Similarly some of the container landmarks do not have unique roles or labels. This impacts on the usability of the webpage by not being able to identify specific elements or types of content (WCAG: 4.1.2).

Mislabelled elements or missing labels

Some of the user interface elements, such as buttons and headings, do not have appropriate labels that define their roles. This includes labels which do not match the purpose and elements which do not have a label. (WCAG: 4.1.2).

Elements are visually styled to look like a specific component type but are not created as such in the HTML code. For example the list of open tickets on the 'my requests' page is not a list in the markup.

Images without a description -first 

Some images on our website don't have appropriate alternative text. (WCAG: 1.1.1). 

Incorrectly tagged decorative images

Images which are purely decorative are not identified as such. (WCAG 1.1.1).

Page titles

Some of the page titles do not accurately describe the content of the page.

Some of the page titles are not unique which can cause confusion. (WCAG: 2.4.2).

Form labels

A few of the form elements are missing labels which explain the type of content to enter. Some of the forms have labels which are not persistent. These labels do not remain visible when the user begins to enter data in the fields (WCAG: 3.3.2).

Form errors

Some forms do not provide feedback or error messages if the user submits invalid data. Feedback may be presented but on a separate page after submission (WCAG: 3.3.1).

Page structure missing landmarks

Some of the pages have elements which are not contained in appropriate landmarks such as ARIA labels and HTML 5 tags (WCAG: 1.3.1).

Headings are not sequential

Some pages may not contain consistent marked-up headings. (WCAG: 1.3.1).

This section covers issues that we cannot fix right now. We have assessed the cost of fixing these issues but believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the law.

Not applicable

This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these exemptions. 

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third-party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

• Links to non-University of Kent websites
• Content/functionality on our website
• Content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites

For further information please see TOPdesk’s accessibility information on SearchBox. Additionally, TOPdesk posts information on their work towards accessibility on their website.

To help accessibility compliance across the sector, the University of Kent supports searchBOX, a centralised, independent directory of third-party accessibility information. 

searchBOX catalogues the contact information and accessibility statements of third-party suppliers, enables the sharing of community-generated accessibility statements, and allows users to map their supplier ecosystem. 

The University of Kent encourages all our partners and suppliers to support this effort by ensuring that their accessibility information is included in the searchBOX directory. 

This statement was prepared on 04 June 2020. It was last reviewed on 12 April 2022.

This website was last tested on 02 June 2020. The test was carried out by the University of Kent.