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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to https://www.nss.nhs.scot.

Using this website

This website is run by National Services Scotland.

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 all of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate all of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to all of the website using a screen reader (using the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
  • access the website using a mobile device.

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • We recognise that PDF documents on the site are not fully accessible to screen reader software. We have identified the issues and are looking into carrying our remedial work. We can offer alternative formats for the PDF documents on request.

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 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 on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact: nss.feedback@nhs.scot

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 National Services Scotland is committed to making this website accessible.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’, listed below:

  • PDFs do not meet accessibility standards and therefore are not accessible to screen reader users. Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. By 31 March 2022, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Please be aware this is a live website and is constantly being updated.

Non-accessible content

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.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

  • PDFs on the website do not meet accessibility standards and therefore are not accessible to screen reader users. We are carrying out remedial work on inaccessible PDFs and any new PDFs will meet accessibility standards.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. 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. However, if there is a specific document that you would like to request in HTML format, we will do our best to oblige where possible and practicable. Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Multiple level 1 headings

We make use of multiple level 1 headings on some pages. These are within self-contained articles and this approach is encouraged by WCAG. However, it is noted that some assistive technologies may not implement the standard with effective results and this may affect the experience of assistive technology users. We are aware of this issue and will continue to monitor any assistive technology issues in future audits.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our site is regularly reviewed with manual audits by our Accessibility Consultants and by scans with an automated testing tool. In addition, we carry out user testing that includes users with disabilities. Testing with real users gives us valuable feedback about the real-world accessibility of our site.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7th September 2021. It was last reviewed on 16th September 2021.

This website was last tested on 7th September 2021.

The test was carried out by RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People).

You can read the full RNIB accessibility test reports.