Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to newcastlehelix.com and its associated content and pages.

This website is provided by Newcastle Science Central Developments LLP. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
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
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 that some parts of the website are not fully accessible

you cannot modify the line height, colour, or spacing of text
older PDF documents might not be fully accessible to screen reader software
our forms might not provide accurate feedback when submitted using screen reader software
our more visual and interactive sections are not accessible with a keyboard or screen reader software (such as our interactive maps.)
some of our images might have poor or missing alt-text
the video that runs on our home page header section cannot be paused and runs automatically.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille

email: info@newcastlehelix.com

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 28 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or feel we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: Estates Team, Newcastle Helix info@newcastlehelix.com

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).

If you contact us before visiting we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.If you are visiting an organisation based at Newcastle Helix, you should coordinate your visit with that organisation directly.Find out how to contact us: https://newcastlehelix.com/contact

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Newcastle Science Central Developments LLP is committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations.Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

Disproportionate burden

Some of our most visual and interactive sections of the website (such as our interactive maps) are not accessible due to them being highly visual and programmatically complex. This makes screen readers and keyboard navigation inadequate for their use. Most, if not all of the information that these sections provide, however, can be found in other parts of the website.Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations:

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We commit fully to ensuring https://newcastlehelix.com and its associated pages and content continue to be as accessible as possible by all audiences. We will continue to test the site, in accordance with accessibility criteria and best practices, on a regular basis.We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2023. When we publish new content we will strive to make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

This statement was prepared in March 2023.