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ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility statement for the Royal Air Force recruitment website

 

This accessibility statement applies to the https://recruitment.raf.mod.uk/ only. 

 

This website is run by the Royal Air Force. 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 200% 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
  • Turn on captions for most videos on the website (hosted via YouTube)

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 are not fully accessible:

  • Some image alt text is missing or incorrect
  • Interactive maps (our locations) are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • Most PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some secondary forms are presented as Microsoft Word documents, to be completed by candidates
  • You cannot pause the autoplay video on mobile devices
  • Captions are missing from videos

 

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, please contact us here.

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 20 working 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 think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us here.

 

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 Royal Air Force is committed to making its 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

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

  • Some image alt text is missing or incorrect
  • Most PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Autoplay for video on mobile devices
  • Our Interactive Mission and exploratory tests cannot be navigated with a keyboard
  • Some video captions need to be added

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Image alt text
Some foreground 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). We will add text alternatives for all non-decorative images by April 2024. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Tabbing (keyboard navigation and focus)
Tabbing (keyboard navigation and focus) isn't very clear on some page components and particularly content panels on the Homepage. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We plan on resolving this issue by April 2024.

PDFs
Most PDFs are not accessible for screen readers. We carried out an audit of PDFs on the site in August 2023, with the view to fixing or replacing them with accessible alternatives in April 2024.

 

Disproportionate burden

The Mission
Our interactive mission (https://recruitment.raf.mod.uk/the-mission), Sound Skills test and simulated Defence Aptitude Assessment cannot be navigated with a keyboard and have no caption ability.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We are currently waiting for the 3rd party software provider to develop a new, accessible version. 

 

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

Pre-recorded time-based video streams are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We do however plan to add captions to these where achievable, without disproportionate burden.

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 15 December 2023.

This website was last tested on 28 July 2020. The test was carried out by Zoonou Limited.

Zoonou selected tests relevant to all page and content templates on the RAF Recruitment website using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1. A heuristic selection of tests were performed for each of the following pages, encompassing all templates:

Page last updated 31 January 2024.