Accessibility statement
This statement applies to content published on the www.sepa.scot domain and subdomains.
This website is run by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). 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 using browser or device settings
- zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
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:
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- videos do not have captions
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact equalities@sepa.org.uk.
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
- email equalities@sepa.org.uk
- call 03000 99 66 99
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.
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
SEPA 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 listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Some of our documents are not accessible and do not have an accessible alternative. These documents may fail issues under WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4 (distinguishable), 2.1 (keyboard accessible), 2.4 (navigable) and 3.1 (readable).
A log of all inaccessible documents is held. Over the next 6-month period before the next review of this statement, we will be addressing inaccessible documents by either
- Implementing a decommissioning approach to remove unnecessary/out-of-date documentation
- Updating documentation to ensure it meets WCAG 2.2 success criteria
When we publish new content and documentation, we’ll make sure these meet accessibility standards.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 7th December 2023. It was last reviewed on 29th April 2024.
This website was last tested in April 2024.
SEPA carried out a self-assessment, completed by the web team. All pages included in the beta website – up to and including content added by April 2024 were tested using SiteImprove accessibility checker, ARC Accessibility toolkit and Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE).
Ongoing internal reviews will be conducted on content published to this website and design system components used to construct the site.