Accessibility statement for eGo, Online applications and Online payments

This accessibility statement applies to eGo, Online applications and Online payments webpages on the domain https://resources.gsmd.ac.uk

This website is run by Guildhall School of Music & Drama under license agreement with the application provider Tribal Education 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 300% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
navigate through links and understand their purposes from the link text
use pages when stylesheets are disabled

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 aren’t fully accessible:

most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
some PDF documents dynamically created from html files aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
videos (hosted elsewhere) may not have a transcript
not all forms have clear enough error messages and opportunity to review responses before submitting

Please see technical detail below

What to do if you can’t 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:

email registry@gsmd.ac.uk
call 02073827181
make an appointment to visit in person at the Registry Office, Level 5, Milton Court, 1 Milton Street, London, EC2Y 9BH

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

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed in this statement or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the Registry Office with details including screenshots if relevant: registry@gsmd.ac.uk

Enforcement procedure

If you are not happy with the initial response within the Guildhall School you can contact marketing@gsmd.ac.uk to escalate your request.

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 requests, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Throughout Milton Court we have an Infra-Red system for those who are hearing impaired. All floors and venues in Milton Court are fully accessible, except for the cloakroom on Level -1 – staff will arrange your cloakroom items to be taken down for you upon request at the entrance. In our Silk Street building, hearing loops are provided in the Music Hall and Theatre, with all venues suitable for wheelchair users.

Download our Milton Court Access Guides from the Visiting Us webpage to find out more about accessibility in Milton Court.

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Guildhall School of Music & Drama is 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 and exemptions listed below.

Non accessible content

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

the template web content of the software (SITS/e:Vision) used by the Guildhall School should be fully compliant with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard, however any content that is configured internally by the Guildhall School or through consultancy that has not been updated or changed recently is expected to meet the standards but will not be tested until next updated.
known technical issues logged with the software supplier (see details below)
most PDF documents for earlier academic cycles aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software but are not expected to be accessed. They can be converted on request
PDF documents containing personal data created via html from the student records system aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software. They can be converted on request
Student Experience Festival Recordings and other videos hosted on eStream or elsewhere are not captioned and do not have transcripts
a recent software update introduced a new css structure which affected the colour contrast of the School’s chosen colours

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

The accessibility problems and plans to fix them are listed in the ‘Navigation and accessing information’, ‘Images and video content’, ‘Interactive tools and transactions’ and ‘PDFs and other documents’ sections.

Disproportionate burden

Web content on this site consists of a mixture of template content from the software supplier and internally configured content from the Guildhall School. The Guildhall School has assessed the cost, time and resources required for a full WCAG 2.1 evaluation on all content. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the scope and meaning of the accessibility regulations. Please see the results of our Basic Accessibility Check in the next sections, and the ‘What we’re doing to improve accessibility’ for our plans for future audit.

PDF documents (see ‘PDFs and other documents’) for academic years prior to 2020/21 are not expected to be accessed and therefore it would be a disproportionate burden to update them. See ‘What to do if you can’t access parts of this website’ for details of how to request content in alternative formats.

The process to generate PDF files containing personal student data from the student records system has been investigated during 19/20 and the free software currently being used does not enable us to meet accessibility standards. We’ve reviewed the other tools available and believe that implementing a new tool is a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will investigate alternatives and convert any documents manually in the meantime.

Recordings of videos containing guidance information have been provided to supplement information already available via other resources. The Guildhall School has assessed the cost, time and resources required for adding closed captions and transcripts and believe that doing so at the time would be a disproportionate burden within the scope and meaning of the accessibility regulations. See ‘What to do if you can’t access parts of this website’ for details of how to request content in alternative formats.

Navigation and accessing information

Navigation bar on every eGo page hasn’t got an accessible name: [WCAG2 1.1.1/1.3.1/3.3.2/4.1.2 (A)] User interface controls without a label should have an accessible name. ACTION: Logged with Tribal PPL 729828
Navigation bar on every item has error with interactive elements not valid ACTION: Helpcall with Tribal
Form control labels on search box on every evision page are not unique: [WCAG2 2.4.6 (AA)] Form control labels must be unique. ACTION: Logged with Tribal PPL 729828 and will optimise search contents
In some old content, table and header cells are not all explicitly associated in complex data tables [WCAG2 1.3.1 (A)]. ACTION: We will review content as it is updated each year
eGo ‘Vista’ and datatables (lists of records for staff) pagination has missing/unnecessary aria tags, needs accessible description and has some areas of low contrast: [WCAG2 1.3.1 (A)] Distinguish between navigation groups using an ARIA label, You should not use ARIA roles, that are the default for the element, [WCAG2 1.4.3 (AA)] Text within this element has a low contrast ratio Detected ratio: 4.48, [WCAG21 1.3.1 (A)] Provide an accessible description for complex data tables. ACTION: Logged with Tribal PPL 729828, Colour contrast across system to be fixed with v10.2 Nov 2021 (outstanding pending comprehensive testing)
Repeated table on application form causing unique reference errors: The value of the attribute must match an id in the same document, [WCAG21 1.3.1 (A)] Provide an accessible description for complex data tables, [WCAG21 1.3.1/2.4.6 (A/AA)] Unique accessible name required. ACTION: Logged with Tribal PPL 728871
Latest release of css in 10.1 introduced new colour contrast errors and warnings. ACTION: Project set up to re-customise css to resolve errors and warnings with v10.2 Nov 2021 (outstanding pending comprehensive testing)
Aria labels introduced invalid syntax on certain displays e.g. application form summary. ACTION: Added to development requirements Summer 2022 (outstanding)
Application form course heading section use unsupported bold tags ACTION: Helpcall with Tribal

Images and video content

Prerecorded video does not have captions or a transcript [WCAG2 1.2]. ACTION: Pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020 are exempt however these will be replaced in the next year or two as part of normal business. The information is available in other formats.

Interactive tools and transactions

Form on all Static html pages e.g. paypal.html doesn't have visual error identifiers (does have text) (or vice versa): [WCAG2 3.3.1] Error Identification. ACTION: Added to development requirements Summer 2022 (outstanding)
Some error messages do not provide suggestions for correcting input errors [WCAG2 3.3.3]. ACTION: Added to development requirements Summer 2022 (outstanding)
Forms using the ‘Chosen’ widget supplied by Tribal have issues with title, contrast and tags for presentation: [WCAG2 2.4.4/2.4.9 (A/AAA)] Is the 'title' text deliberately empty?, [WCAG2 1.4.3 (AA)] Text within this element has a low contrast ratio. Detected ratio: 3.62, [WCAG2 1.3.1 (A)] Use CSS for presentation effect, Error identification does not include visual error identifiers. ACTION:Tribal confirmed no impact to title and presentation tags however since continues post v10.0 will log a helpcall to pursue. ACTION: Colour contrast across system to be fixed with v10.2 Nov 2021 (outstanding pending comprehensive testing). ACTION: Error identification added to development requirements Summer 2022
In some sections, activating a component that reveals hidden content does not move input focus into the revealed content [WCAG2 2.4.3] and may not notify the user audibly that new output is available. ACTION: Added to development requirements Summer 2022 (outstanding)
Some of our interactive forms do not allow the user to check and review their answers before submitting them. ACTION: As forms are replaced in the future these will permit the user to review their answers.
Form (‘Task’ and application form) with a final step of certain format has no submit button: [WCAG2 3.2.2 (A)] A submit button is missing. ACTION: Review each form when next updated & check options with Tribal.
Aria tags added into Tribal’s template forms (‘Tasks’) do not appear in the page. ACTION:Review areas where used during 2021/22 and check otherwise usable (outstanding)
Uploading documents (using ‘Plupload’ widget provided by supplier) has a link containing invalid script: The 'href' attribute does not have a valid value: It is an invalid URI, most likely containing invalid characters such as spaces (see rfc3986). ACTION: Logged with Tribal PPL 729828

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

The regulations apply to publicly facing webpages. Pages for staff do not need to demonstrate compliance but through a wider commitment to accessibility Tribal and the Guildhall School are also amending staff screens where possible.

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix intranet content behind a login (including eGo and our application forms) published before September 2019 until they are reviewed however we have agreed a plan for review in order of priority.

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix documents previously generated by the student records system as an audit trail, or files we no longer expect to be accessed. See ‘What to do if you can’t access parts of this website’ for details of how to request content in alternative formats.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

How we tested this website.

This website was last tested by the Guildhall School between 01/07/2021 and 29/09/2021. The basic accessibility test was carried out by the Assistant Registrar – Student Database Support at the Guildhall School using TotalValidator, NVDA and inspection.

We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test:

Most completely customised content (Course Link Pages and some static pages)
An example of dynamic content including a mixture of supplier provided and customised content for a wide range of users
An example of dynamic content including a mixture of supplier provided and customised content for external applicants
New content created or significantly updated for enquirers, applicants and students during this time

We tested:

Additional areas of non-compliance have been logged from tests with other new content during the last two years.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to:

continue to upgrade the software to the latest versions within a year of release and apply software updates promptly thereafter to ensure that the template content is fully compliant to WCAG 2.1 AA standard
re-customise css to address colour contrast issues for release in November 2023
continue an audit on existing content if not previously tested in priority order
monitor known issues (see details in non-compliance section) including those reported to our supplier
report new issues with the software supplied template to the supplier
consult with technical support to ensure we can generate accessible PDF documents within the database, and in the meantime convert any PDF documents manually when requested
undertake development in specific areas (see details in non-compliance section)
document common problems to avoid recurrence in future
optimise search options
test all new content for accessibility as it is published
review this accessibility statement annually.

If you would like to find out more about our accessibility plans and roadmap for this site please contact us on registry@gsmd.ac.uk

This statement was prepared on 21 September 2019. It was last updated on 7 November 2022.