Digital Accessibility Policy

The University of Kent Digital Accessibility Policy was approved by the EDI Strategy Group in October 2021. It's similar to GDPR in that all staff and teams at Kent need to adhere to it, to make sure the University is meeting its legal obligations.

• It's for everyone who produces documents or content hosted on a digital system (including emails)
• Everyone involved in procurement, management, or development of a digital system used at Kent

Our accessibility guides tell you what you need to do and how to do it.

• Practical steps are arranged by task so you can find help quickly with whatever you need to do
• The guidance can support you to create a wide range of content including documents, presentations, web pages, social media, images, video and email
• Bookmark the accessibility guides for easy reference as you work

The policy is monitored and enforced by the Digital Accessibility Policy Group, which is comprised of colleagues from across relevant departments such as Web Development, Information Services, e-Learning and Student Support and Wellbeing, as well as the Governance and Assurance teams. 

The University of Kent (“the University”) will ensure that all web-based content and mobile applications that it funds, develops or controls meet the requirements set out in the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (“The Regulations”). This includes making reasonable adjustments where appropriate under the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act 2010. 

The Regulations require: 

• full conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 Level AA  
• digital systems (as defined under 3.1: Scope) to publish an accessibility statement that explains its accessibility health and outlines workarounds for any remaining barriers.  

The University’s Executive Group is responsible for ensuring that the University complies with The Regulations. Appropriate steps to meet The Regulations, including advice and support, will be taken by the Digital Accessibility Policy Group, supported by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Strategy Group and Governance and Assurance teams. 

The objective of this policy is to set out the principles we must all follow to comply with The Regulations and thereby ensure that information is made accessible to anyone who has a right to that information. 

3.1 Within scope 

This policy applies to:  

• everyone who procures, manages, or develops a digital system as part of the University’s business processes; and 
• everyone who produces documents or content hosted on a digital system that meets the following description. 

For the purposes of this policy, a “digital system” is any Information Technology (IT) system that is accessed using a browser or on a mobile device and is created for an internal or external audience (for example staff, students, and members of the public). This applies to the administrative interface as well as the user interface. 

This includes but is not limited to:  

• websites 
• web-based systems 
• documents and content hosted on a digital system 
• mobile applications. 

A digital system is in scope for The Regulations if it is funded, developed, or controlled by the University or has University of Kent branding. 

For types of digital content that are in scope, see the University’s online accessibility guidance. 

3.2 Out of scope 

Any digital system that is not funded, controlled, or developed by the University is outside the scope of this policy. This includes subscription services where the University does not control or manage a system but pays for access to it. 

If a digital system does not clearly fit this scope statement (3.1), the Digital Accessibility Policy Group will decide whether it should be included as a system that must meet the standards set out in this policy. 

Some types of digital content are not in scope: 

• files published before 23 September 2018 (unless needed as part of an active process related to tasks performed by the University);
• audio and video content published before 23 September 2020; 
• live video and audio streams; 
• online maps and mapping services, if the information on the map is provided in an accessible format alongside; 
• third-party content that is neither funded, developed or under the control of the University; 
• reproductions of items in heritage collections that cannot be made accessible without compromising the integrity of the item or without significant investment; and content qualifying as ‘archives’, meaning it is not needed for an active process and is not edited after 23 September 2019. 

Even where a digital system is outside the scope of this policy, its  accessibility should be considered, including provisions made for reasonable adjustments and alternative formats.

Failure to adhere to this policy is an infringement of relevant legislation and may result in reputational damage and financial loss. 

The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) actively monitors compliance with The Regulations, and will perform periodic compliance audits on the University’s digital systems. If non-compliances are identified, the University will have 12 weeks to resolve all issues.  

If issues remain unresolved following this period, Kent will be publicly listed as a non-compliant University and the Equality and Human Rights Commission may choose to start legal proceedings under the Equality Act. 

5.1. The University will comply with The Regulations and all relevant legislation. It will ensure changes to legislation are considered in a timely manner and review policy and controls accordingly. 

5.2. Digital systems will be developed and managed to comply with The Regulations, addressing any technical limitations that become apparent.  

5.3. Anyone writing content for a digital system owned or maintained by the University must follow the corporate Design Principles.  

5.4. The University will provide all necessary accessibility information regarding any of its digital systems in the form of an Accessibility Statement and Known Defects Statement on the system’s web interface. 

5.5. Staff who manage contracts and procure new digital systems and services must make sure that contractors comply with their obligations under the current legislation; they must also actively manage any identified accessibility limitations until they are resolved. All contracts relating to digital systems and content must include appropriate Digital Accessibility Statements and clauses. 

5.6. Staff who provide content must learn how to make content accessible and keep up to date with accessibility standards. Digital accessibility training is a mandatory part of the induction process for all new staff and of continuing professional development for existing staff. 

5.7. Anyone has the right to challenge the level of accessibility of our digital systems and the impact of any constraints outlined in this policy. Such challenges will be dealt with appropriately through support mechanisms also outlined in this policy. 

5.8. The University supports the principles set out by WCAG 2.2, Levels A and AA. It maintains policies and procedures for monitoring the quality and compliance of its digital systems. 

5.9. Any digital system or content that cannot be made accessible should be referred to the Accessible Information Team, who will act to manage the risk of non-compliance. This may be escalated to other accountable roles for accessibility compliance. 

5.10. Staff who manage systems must meet their obligations under the current legislation and actively manage any accessibility limitations identified until they are resolved. This includes an annual plan for auditing and updating accessibility statements. 

Section 6 of the policy covers roles, responsibilities, and policy compliance.

6.1

A proposed management structure for digital accessibility is outlined below to support the statements set out in this policy. 

6.2 

This section is broken down by role at Kent, as detailed below.

6.2.1

The Executive Group is accountable for ensuring that the University adheres to The Regulations.

6.2.2

The Digital Accessibility Policy Group oversees matters of compliance with the technical web standards set out in The Regulations, including compliance of accessibility statements. These may be reported to the Head of Assurance and Data Protection for resolution. 

The Digital Accessibility Policy Group develops a suitable strategy and framework to support the University in meeting its accessibility goals and monitor its implementation. They will ensure that good practice is applied and support the Divisions and Professional Service Departments in their digital plans. This includes raising awareness of relevant legislation and of actions needed, as set out in this policy, to ensure compliance.

6.2.3

The Governance and Assurance Team will advise and support the Accessible Information Team to resolve issues where incidences of non-compliance with standards are identified across the University.

6.2.4

The Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy Group support the maintenance of the framework and the monitoring of the University’s overall adherence to the legislation through Equality Impact Analysis (EIA). There should be regular EIAs (Equality Impact Analysis) on how changes are affecting staff in different equality groups and positions within the University.

6.2.5

Directors must appoint to a role responsible for accessibility in the service (the Divisional and Professional Service Department Accessibility Champion) and take responsibility for digital accessibility compliance within their division.

6.2.6

Each division and professional service department will have an Accessibility Champion to  support colleagues in meeting the accessibility regulations. To do this, Champions will be fully supported by the Digital Accessibility Policy Group, and the Executive Group. Divisional and Professional Service Department Accessibility Champions will: 

• raise awareness of accessibility within their division, so that staff understand their roles in making systems and content digitally accessible. This includes sharing all guidance, communications, and training opportunities within the division. 
• create and maintain a list of systems in scope of this policy within their division, including each system's compliance status.
• support System Owners within their division in their pursuit of compliance by liaising with the Accessible Information Team to schedule audits and plan remedial actions. 
• support Procurement/Contract Managers to ensure that all systems (both existing and newly procured) have the University’s accessibility requirements built into contracts with the supplier. 
• explore opportunities to centralise websites within their division under the kent.ac.uk domain.

6.2.7

The University’s system owners will ensure that the digital systems under their control remain within the standards of WCAG 2.2 AA and relevant legislation. To achieve this, they must: 

• ensure their digital system or mobile application is fully compliant with WCAG 2.2 AA; 
• ensure their digital system or mobile application lists a current accessibility statement which matches the requirements set out in the University’s Accessibility Statement Template (and accompanying guide for completion); 
• put procedures in place to only publish accessible content on their system. If other services are providing content to the system owner, the system owner should make the service aware that they must only provide accessible content and can refuse to publish non-accessible content depending on their risk appetite. 
• identify and monitor known accessibility issues in the form of a remedial action plan. Issues should be prioritised and resolved as part of this plan. If deadlines are provided as part of a monitoring process, the system owner must resolve the issues by the stated deadlines; 
• work with contract managers and the University’s Accessibility Champions to incorporate accessibility requirements into new and existing contracts. This includes taking active steps to move websites into the kent.ac.uk domain where appropriate; 
• provide information about their system’s accessibility and allow access to the system for internal and external monitoring processes if asked to do so by the Accessible Information Team; and 
• ensure that reasonable adjustments are in place for systems, for example providing accessible formats on request. 

System owners are also responsible for the handling of any digital accessibility-related complaints associated with their system(s). They should also report all such complaints to the Digital Accessibility Policy Group for corporate monitoring purposes.

6.2.8

Contract managers (or managers with contract management responsibilities) must make sure that contractors and commissioned service providers understand their responsibilities in providing digital systems that support the University in meeting its obligations regarding digital accessibility. They must also ensure that any tools used to deliver such services comply with the current standards at the time.

As part of the procurement process, contract managers should check the supplier’s conformity to accessibility requirements. Where a supplier does not meet accessibility requirements, this must be taken into consideration during the awarding process. 

To achieve this, contract managers must ensure that appropriate clauses are included in the contract. They must then actively monitor and report on the compliance with those contractual obligations by the supplier as part of contract management.

Where issues are found that need funding to resolve, the contract manager and the service owning division are responsible for managing these requirements.

Where products do not meet accessibility requirements, the supplier must provide evidence of their progress towards compliance. This must be actively monitored as part of contract management. 

Contract managers should seek support from the Digital Accessibility Policy Group where they are unsure about digital accessibility compliance matters. 

6.2.9

Managers, team leaders and supervisors must ensure that staff are appropriately trained to produce accessible content and that the content published (or submitted to be published) is accessible. Guidance and support can be found on the University of Kent Accessibility pages.

6.2.10

All staff are responsible for the compliance of any content they produce for a digital system, for example Moodle or SharePoint. This includes making sure that automatic speech recognition (ASR) is enabled for all multimedia as a minimum requirement. 

• Any content that is aimed at all staff or students (for example campus-wide, or division-wide content) should have human-corrected captions. 
• Any content that is publicly available on a University of Kent digital system should have human-corrected captions 

Staff should use the tools available to make their content accessible before it is published and should seek advice from Divisional and Professional Service Department Accessibility Champions and then the Accessible Information Adviser if full accessibility cannot be achieved. 

The University and College Union (UCU) advises that staff need to be given appropriate training (see 6.4) on the tools and platforms they must use. Since digital accessibility is a developing area, regular training on updated technology and practice must also be provided.  

Staff should also be given appropriate continuing personal development (CPD) opportunities to carry out this training and comply with the new responsibilities.  

In addition, any training, additional CPD opportunities or additional workload needed to use new tools and platforms should fall within staff members’ current workload allocation and should not be carried out in addition to the workload already agreed by contract.

6.2.10.1 Captioning

Under the regulations we are required to offer accurate captions for any audio-visual materials that we publish on any of our digital systems. Live sessions are not in scope of the regulations, however where these sessions are recorded e.g., in KentPlayer or Teams, these recordings will be in scope and must have accurate captions. All recorded sessions will have Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) applied to them by default, however these are not fully compliant under the regulations as captions generated using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) may contain transcription errors. Students should be encouraged to seek clarification from module convenors/teachers in such cases. Student Support and Wellbeing will provide support for captioning of taught lectures where a student has an Inclusive Learning Plan (ILP) that identifies additional support requirements. 

The provision of accurate captions for audio-visual content added to any University of Kent digital system (whether internal or externally sourced) is the responsibility of the member of University staff who selected it.  

For more information about captioning compliance please see the Captions in Kent Player guide or speak with the E-Learning team. 

6.2.11 Students 

Students should be given appropriate training and encouragement to develop digital accessibility awareness as an important employability skill and graduate attribute.

6.3.1 Internal reporting

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) regularly reports progress towards or problems with compliance to the Executive Group and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Strategy Group. 

6.3.2 External reporting

The University may be required to report on progress externally as part of the monitoring process or another query (such as a Freedom of Information Request). The Director of Governance and Assurance will act on behalf of the University with support from the Accessible Information Team to provide adequate and accurate information for these purposes.  

6.4

All staff should feel confident that they know their personal responsibilities and can carry out their duties in respect of this Digital Accessibility policy. Appropriate training is available. Information, advice, and guidance are maintained on the University of Kent Accessibility pages.

6.5 

By performing a role or action detailed in the Roles and Responsibilities, you are deemed to have read, understood, and agreed to adhere to this policy.  

If you do not understand the implications of this policy or how it may apply to you, ask for advice from the Governance and Assurance and Digital Accessibility Policy Group.

• Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 
• Equality Act 2010
• University of Kent Accessibility pages

If you have any queries about the contents of this policy or any digital accessibility compliance matters, contact the Digital Accessibility Policy Group: digitalaccess@kent.ac.uk 

This policy will be reviewed and updated as appropriate at least every 12 months.  

Document Owner 

The Digital Accessibility Policy Group: digitalaccess@kent.ac.uk  

Version 

February 2025