Accessibility statement

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman is committed to making its website(s) accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to SPSO, SWF and INWO websites.

Compliance status

These website(s) are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance(s) listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reason(s):

Some images are missing alt attribute or text, or do not have suitable text alternatives (Failure of Success Criterion 1.1.1 and 1.2.1)
Some headings are not properly formatted as Headings (Failure of Success Criterion 1.3.1)
Some links are not visually evident without colour vision (Failure of Success Criterion 1.4.1)
Some page titles do not sufficiently identify the page contents (Failure of Success Criterion 2.4.2)
Some issues that cause difficulty with page navigation (Failures for Success Criterion 2.4.5)

Our own user testing has also identified issues which can cause difficulty accessing the website for some users. These include:

Issues with colour contrast
Issues with site map navigation and search

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was first prepared on 16 October 2023.

The statement was updated on 15 February 2024 to provide more detail on the compliance failures listed above. This statement was prepared following a full accessibility audit by Passion4Social (P4S) in September 2023. P4S completed automated and manual user testing on SPSO, INWO and SWF websites. Automated tested scanned all pages and files. Manual tests involved 10 steps in a user journey tested by a range of people for accessibility. This included reduced visual and hearing, autism, dyslexia and ADHD.

We are currently undertaking a large scale website development project to address the issues in this statement. We have (since January 2024) upgraded our Content Management System to put in place technical improvements which will help us reach compliance. We expect to complete further developments in 2024-25 to bring the website into full compliance and improve the user journey for all.

The statement was last reviewed on 15 February 2024.

Feeback and contact information

We welcome feedback and encourage you to let us know if you have difficulty accessing our website. Please contact us on [email protected].

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’).