Accessibility - student finance Northern Ireland

Accessibility statement for Student Loans Company Limited

This website is run by Student Loans Company Limited ("SLC"). It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. You should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 400% 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 (including the most recent versions of JAWS (Job Access with Speech), NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access), and Voiceover)

We have 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 that some of the following parts of this website are not fully accessible.

These issues are split into the:

'apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service for Student Finance Northern Ireland (SFNI)
'apply for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)' and 'apply for Welsh Government Learning Grant - Further Education (WGLG - FE)' services for Student Finance Wales (SFW)
other parts of this website - including account management and applying for undergraduate student finance

'Apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service (SFNI)

This service has the following accessibility issues

some PDF documents are not fully accessible to assistive technology
focus indicators for some elements such as the 'log out' link does not have appropriate colour contrast
when using the browser zoom, some content does not display as expected. This includes at 400% zoom; a menu appears and is announced inappropriately to assistive technology.

'Apply for EMA and WGLG' services (SFW)

To view these details, go to the 'Apply for EMA and WGLG' accessibility statement.

Other parts of this website

This website has the following accessibility issues:

older documents are in PDF format and are not fully accessible to screen reader software
in the part-time service, the screen reader is reading options along with the link text, which creates a lengthy process for users
documents in PDF format are not fully editable
images do not have clear and descriptive alternative text
widgets do not have hyperlinks or descriptive labels
HTML tags do not have correct language attribute
some features of the website are not compatible with all web browsers
progress bars do not clearly tell the user exactly where they are in the process
specific error message is not announced on the screen reader
non SLC (NVDA) issues can occur depending on what versions the customer is using
in the part-time and postgraduate service, the Welsh site has three issues where the language is not specified, translated or showing the correct language code
skip to main content links navigate to the incorrect field on some areas of the website

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need any of our letters, forms or guides sent to you in Braille or large print, email brailleandlargefonts@slc.co.uk with:

your address
your Customer Reference Number
what you need changing into Braille or large print
for large print, include the font size and the font type you need

Timescales for these requests vary depending on the content and the amount of the correspondence that need to be converted. Requests to convert correspondence into Braille can take up to 4-6 weeks, Large Font requests can take up to 2-3 weeks.

If there are any other parts of our website which you cannot access, please let us know by contacting us at accessibility@slc.co.uk.

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops for those with difficulty hearing and are visiting our offices in person. Or, if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language interpreter.

Find out how to contact us at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/student-loans-company.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

SLC is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the "Accessibility Regulations").

'Apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service (SFNI)

This service is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 ("WCAG 2.2") AA standard due to the points bulleted below:

The colour contrast ratio between the foreground and background of some links and buttons including on focused state and focus indicators does not have a ratio of at least 4.5:1.This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)
When using browser zoom some content may not display as expected, such as, on 400% zoom a navigation menu appears and is announced inappropriately to screen readers.This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 Reflow.

'Apply for EMA and WGLG' services (SFW)

To view these details, go to the 'Apply for EMA and WGLG' accessibility statement.

Other parts of this website

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 ("WCAG 2.1") AA standard due to the points bulleted below:

older documents are in PDF format and are not fully accessible to screen reader software. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 4.1 (Compatible)
in the part-time service, the screen reader is reading options along with the link text, which creates a lengthy process for users. This fails WCAG 2.1, success criterion 2.4.4 (Link purpose – In Context)
documents in PDF format are not fully editable. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 4.1 (Compatible)
images do not have clear and descriptive alternative text. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content)
widgets do not have hyperlinks or descriptive labels. This fails WCAG 2.1, success criterion 3.3.2. (Labels or Instructions)
HTML tags do not have correct language attribute. This fails WCAG 2.1, success criterion 3.1.1. (Language of Page)
some features of the website are not compatible with all web browsers. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 4.1 (Compatible)
progress bars do not clearly tell the user exactly where they are in the process. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 2.4.10 (Section Headings)
specific error message is not announced on the screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 3.3.1 (Error Identification)
non SLC (NVDA) issues can occur depending on what versions the customer is using. This fails WCAG 2.1, success Criterion 4.1 (Compatible)
in the part-time and postgraduate service, the Welsh site has three issues where the language is not specified, translated, or showing the correct language code. This fails WCAG 2.1, success criterion 3.1.1. (Language of Page) 4.1.1 (Parsing) and 3.1.2 (Language of Parts)
skip to main content links navigate to the incorrect field on some areas of the website. This fails WCAG 2.1, success criterion 2.4.3. (Focus Order)

Content that is not within the scope of the Accessibility Regulations

Non-HTML documents published before September 2018 do not need to be accessible - unless users need them to use a service.

How we tested this website

Different parts of this website have been tested at different times and in different ways.

'Apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service (SFNI)

The 'Apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service was tested in July 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.The audit was carried out by SLC using a combination of automated and manual testing techniques to the WCAG 2.2 AA Standard.

This service has not yet been fully tested with speech recognition technology.

Other parts of this website

Primarily, testing was done using the NVDA screen reader in the Chrome browser with additional checks being done using the JAWS screen reader and Firefox browser. Testing was performed to the WCAG 2.1 AA standard across desktop and mobile views including high zoom level views.

The testing was performed by SLC or SLC third party delivery teams with full and detailed audits carried out by User vision consultants.

Audits were determined by the changes to each service with new sections added or changed being audited. The new Salesforce technology was fully audited in its entirety between August 2021 and December 2021.

Full and detailed reviews were carried out in March 2022 on the academic year 2022 to 2023 application updates.

The part-time and postgraduate service received a review in April 2022 on the academic year 2022 to 2023.

We have tested our customer account management areas, available at the following links:

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: accessibility@slc.co.uk.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the Accessibility Regulations. If you are not happy with how SLC respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services, or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland if you live in Northern Ireland.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

'Apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service (SFNI)

We plan to fix issues outlined within this statement for the 'Apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service by October 2024.

The statement for 'apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee loan' service was last updated on 15 August 2024 and published on 25th August 2024

'Apply for EMA and WGLG' services (SFW)

To view these details, go to the 'Apply for EMA and WGLG' accessibility statement.

Other parts of this website

The statement for other parts of this website was last updated on 04 May 2022 and published on 08 May 2022

We have recently retested other parts of this website to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard and will be updating our accessibility statement by October 2024