Accessibility
Accessibility on this website
The Promise Scotland is committed to making sure this website is accessible. This is important because:
Accessibility is a legal duty
The Promise Scotland is a company which is wholly owned by Scottish Ministers. This means it must follow laws which apply to public sector organisations.
One of these laws is The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 . It applies across the whole UK, including for devolved organisations in Scotland.
These regulations set a minimum standard around accessibility which this website must meet, which can be defined against the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 . The WCAG is used worldwide as a set of common standards, which sets out success criteria across three different levels:
- Level A ,
- Level AA , and
- Level AAA .
The level of a success criteria is set by:
- how challenging it is to put in place , and
- the impact on users if the criteria isn't met.
Under the Public Sector Bodies Website Regulations, this website should meet all success criteria at both Level A and Level AA.
Accessibility must be part of keeping the promise
The promise was made for all Scotland's children and young people, and people across Scotland will play a part in keeping it. As many people as possible should be able to find, understand, and action the information it contains.
That means that this website should go beyond what regulation demands. It should meet Level AAA success criteria where it can, to make sure it is as accessible as it can be.
Using the Recite Me toolbar as an accessibility aid
This website features the Recite Me toolbar. It allows you adjust how the website is displayed, through:
- changing its font,
- changing its colours,
- changing the language it’s written in,
- changing the size of the margins,
- opening a plain text version of the website.
- It also includes other accessibility features, such as allowing people to download audio of what the website says.
The Promise Scotland can’t accept responsibility for the modifications ReciteMe provides. For example:
- It can’t guarantee the translations Recite Me provides are accurate,
- It can’t guarantee this website will still conform to its Accessibility Statement once it’d been modified by the Recite Me toolbar.
The Promise Scotland website: Accessibility Statement
Promise Scotland: Accessibility statement
This statement covers https://thepromise.scot, a website which:
- explains the promise which Scotland made to care experienced children and young people,
- acts as the organisational website for The Promise Scotland, and
- provides information about the work and reporting of the Promise Oversight Board.
This website is run by The Promise Scotland, and as many people as possible should be able to use it.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
PDFs and other documents
Currently, some of the information on our website is only available in PDF form, in PDFs which do not meet accessibility standards. For example, Plan 21-24 can only be accessed in this way.
Because of this, if you use a screen reader or have a visual impairment you may not be able to access this information. If this is the case, you can contact The Promise Scotland to request it in an alternative format.
Inaccessible PDFs fail the following WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
- 1.1.1: Non-text Content,
- 1.3.1: Info and Relationships,
- 1.3.2: Meaningful Sequence,
- 1.3.4: Orientation,
- 1.4.4: Resize Text,
- 1.4.10: Reflow,
- 2.1.1: Keyboard,
- 2.1.3: Keyboard (No Exception)
- 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value
Assistive audio descriptions
This website’s videos of composite stories – such as Isla’s story – don’t have audio descriptions. This means that some context within the videos is lost for visually impaired users, although the composite stories themselves can still be understood.
This means that the website fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5: Audio Description (Prerecorded).
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, email hello@thepromise.scot.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 30 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
The Promise Scotland is 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, contact The Promise Scotland’s Online Tools Manager.
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 Promise Scotland Ltd 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-compliance with the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
This website contains a large volume of information published in PDF form, in a manner which fails multiple WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria. These include:
- 1.1.1: Non-text Content,
- 1.3.1: Info and Relationships,
- 1.3.2: Meaningful Sequence,
- 1.3.4: Orientation,
- 1.4.4: Resize Text,
- 1.4.10: Reflow,
- 2.1.1: Keyboard,
- 2.1.3: Keyboard (No Exception)
- 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value
The Promise Scotland will investigate ways to make information in PDFs more accessible, both for information already published on this website and for information which will be published in the future.
Assistive audio description
There are currently videos embedded on the website which have action communicated visually without accompanying audio description. This means the website fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.2.5: Audio Description (Prerecorded).
The Promise Scotland is currently scoping solutions to this issue, and will decide on which to move forward with by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.
Disproportionate burden
The Promise Scotland is currently unaware of any accessibility issues which would be a disproportionate burden to address.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
The Promise Scotland is currently unaware of any content on this website which would fall outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 11 October 2022, before this website launched. It was reviewed on 29 November 2022.
This website was last tested throughout this period before launch. The test was carried out by The Promise Scotland. As this test was conducted just before launch, the organisation has attempted to test every page.