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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the public-facing OpenSAFELY websites.

The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. Our Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.

This accessibility statement applies to the following OpenSAFELY websites:

These websites are run by the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, University of Oxford. We want as many people as possible to be able to use these websites. 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 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 these websites are

We know some parts of these websites are not fully accessible:

  • Not all images have appropriate alt text
  • Some link text isn’t meaningful out of context
  • Not all audio content has transcripts
  • Not all pages have unique titles
  • User uploaded content is not able to be checked before being published on some of the sites

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on these websites in a different format, please contact the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science:

We will consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with these websites

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of these websites. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

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).

Other accessibility resources

If you’d like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages.

If you’re looking for information on building accessibility, please try the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.

Technical information about these websites’ accessibility

The University of Oxford is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

These websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due in part to the non-compliance and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

Images, Carousels, Audio & Visual Content

Alt text

Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.

By December 2026 all images will:

  • Have meaningful text alternative
  • Purely decorative images will have blank alt text
  • Infographics and charts will have a link to a full description of the content

All new images that are being added to the site now are compliant.

Images containing text

Some images include text as part of the image, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5.

By December 2026 all images containing text will have a suitable text alternative to include the image text. New images won’t include text that forms part of the message.

Audio only content

Not all audio only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to website users who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.

All new audio content will be accompanied by transcripts.

Video only content

Not all video only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to users who cannot see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.

All new video only files will be accompanied by transcripts.

Video with audio content

Not all videos have captions that are synchronised to the audio content of the video, making them inaccessible to people who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2.

All new video and audio content will have captions.

Not all videos have audio descriptions of important visual information that doesn’t have audio, making this inaccessible to people who can’t see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5. All new videos will have audio descriptions before they are published.

Link text

Some links do not use text that is meaningful out of context, which can result in users of screen readers not being able to understand the link without reading the surrounding text and users of speech recognition software being less able to target links accurately using voice commands. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4.

All links will be reviewed and fixed by December 2026.

Some links to external sites open in a new browser window and some open in the same browser window making the site behaviour unpredictable, which can result in the site being less accessible for people with some cognitive disabilities and people who use screen readers. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2.

All links to external websites will be reviewed and will open in the same window by December 2026.

Structure

Headings

Not all headings are hierarchical, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology such as screen readers to access. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.

Heading have on occasion been used to highlight information rather than for headings, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology to use. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.6.

These issues will be fixed as part of a review of how headings are used in the content by December 2026.

Page titles

Not all page titles are unique and indicate the page’s topic or purpose, which can result in people with cognitive disabilities being unable to quickly orientate themselves within the site and identify the purpose of the page without interpreting its entire contents. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2.

All page titles will be reviewed and fixed by December 2026.

Page layout

The layout of some pages don’t work as well on small devices and with style sheets turned off, which can cause issue for people using screen readers, keyboards and their own style sheets. Depending on the nature of the issue this could fail 1.3.2 (Meaningful sequence) and/or 2.4.3 (Focus order)

Pages were the layout isn’t optimal will be amended by December 2026.

Disproportionate burden

We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant by January 2027.

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

Third-party content

Our site includes third party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, link to another site or supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party content or to other sites we link to.

This includes:

  • YouTube videos
  • Embedded content

We will provide an accessible alternative to any third-party content that isn’t compliant.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this we will:

  • Fix known issues
  • Check all new content on the websites for accessibility before it is published
  • Train all content editors on accessibility
  • Carry out periodic accessibility checks

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 August 2025. It was last reviewed on 20 August 2025.

These websites were last tested in August 2025. The test was carried out by the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science.

The following 20 pages were checked to ensure that we covered the full range of public-facing content across the site:

The pages were checked manually using a combination of the following methods:

Basic manual testing, as per the WCAG 2.1 guidelines, has been completed alongside these automated checks. However, it’s likely some issues will have been missed that may be caught as part of a full accessibility audit. These include:

  • Interactive controls are keyboard focusable
  • Interactive elements indicate their purpose and state
  • The page has a logical tab order
  • Visual order on the page follows DOM order
  • User focus is not accidentally trapped in a region
  • The user’s focus is directed to new content added to the page
  • HTML5 landmark elements are used to improve navigation
  • Offscreen content is hidden from assistive technology
  • Custom controls have associated labels
  • Custom controls have ARIA roles