Accessibility statement for Greenwich Students’ Union (GSU)

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was originally prepared on 22nd September 2020.

It was last reviewed in full in July 2025, and updates made on 11th July 2025.

Our websites were last tested in July 2025 0through an online accessibility checker provided by ReciteMe.

 

Introduction

This accessibility statement applies to our websites, greenwichsu.co.uk and thehubmedway.co.uk.

They are run by Greenwich Students’ Union (GSU). We want as many people as possible to be able to use our websites. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Have the text on our website read aloud (including PDFs)
  • Listen to the website as you use it, or download the text as an MP3 file to play it where and when it suits you
  • Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • See pages as plain text
  • Translate text into more than 100 different languages
  • Access a fully integrated dictionary and thesaurus

 

We have a tool available on our website called ReciteMe to enable a lot of these features. This is accessible via a toolbar at the bottom of the pages of our websites.

AbilityNet also 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, for example:

  • the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some video content does not have captions
  • some of our online forms might be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader

 

 

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:

 

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.

If you need direcitons to any of our spaces, call or email us on the contact details above for directions.

 

Reporting accessibility problems with our websites

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our websites. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us at greenwichsu@gre.ac.uk. Any emails sent in about accessibility will be forwarded to our Marketing and Communications team who manage our websites – they will pick up your query, consider and act on any enquiries.

 

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).

 

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Our Avery Hill office has an audio induction loop, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us, please visit greenwichsu.co.uk/aboutus/locations/.

 

Technical information about our websites' accessibility

Greenwich Students’ Union is committed to making iour websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

 
Compliance Status

Our websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

 
Non-accessible content

Some parts of the website may not work for everyone. Below are known issues that we either need to fix, cannot fix, or do not need to fix right now.

If you find something that does not work that we missed, please contact us and let us know.

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This section covers issues that we need to fix and are working to do so.

 
Alternative Text

Some images on our website do not have appropriate alternative (alt) text. These are images that have been added on the wsebsite prior to September 2020.

Due to a disproportionate burden, we are unable to go through our websites and add appropriate alt text to all our historical images. We have been and are committed to ensuring that alt text is provided on images since this statement went live. We will also hide decorative content to assistive technologies if they serve no meaningful content.

 
Audio Description

Audio description is not provided for all prerecorded video content.

Due to a disproportionate burden, we are unable to meet 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded) for all content that we produce, however we can provide this on-demand or an alternative format - please contact us and let us know if you require this.

 
Link Purpose

Some links on our website may be unable to be determined from the link text or the context

We plan to meet 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) by adding link text or aria-labels.

 

Disproportionate burden

This section covers issues that we cannot fix right now. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing these issues but believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the law. If you require an alternative format please contact us and let us know.

 
Pre-recorded video

Some older pre-recorded video content on our website does not contain captioning or subtitling and therefore does not meet 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded). This may include content that was produced live on third-party platforms that was not produced with captioning or subtitling at the time.

When we publish new videos, however, we will make sure it meets these accessibility standards by providing at least one of the following: captioning, subtitling or an audio transcript.

 
Audio Description

Audio description is not provided for all prerecorded video content and therefore does not meet 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded). This may include content that was produced live on third-party platforms that was not produced with audio description at the time.

We plan to provide a number of alternative formats such as captioning, subtitling or an audio transcript and feel it is very unlikely that any meaning would be lost by not providing audio description. We will, however, try to provide this if you contact us and let us know.

 

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. Some forms are built using the content management system behind our website; some are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

 

PDFs and documents

Some PDFs and other documents are linked to open straight away on our website. This will be something we are looking to address on our website for future documentation that needs uploading and linked, but may not be possible due to the disproportionate burden is may take to make the change. 

 

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

This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these exemptions.

 
PDFs and documents

Some of our PDFs that are not essential to providing our services were published before 23rd September 2018.

When we publish new PDFs and documents, however, we will make sure it meets accessibility standards. You can request alternative formats by contacting us.

 

Maps

Some pages on our website use online maps. Where there is a map, the information being displayed is provided in an alternative format on the same web page.

 

Third-party content

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the 3rd party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

  • Links to non-GSU websites.
  • Content/functionality on our website.
  • Content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites.

 

Some of our 3rd party partners publish their own accessibility statements: