HOMCorp recognises that many different forms of disability affect access to the web and we have adopted a proactive approach to improving the services we offer. Making a website accessible means adhering to established carefully developed standards to ensure all users can access the web effectively.

Aims

Our aim is to provide a website that meets the needs of our disabled users and offers accessible and inclusive website information and services. We aim to meet the legal requirements of the Equality Act 2010 for the provision of services and we aim to adhere to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 AA standard.

We further aim to drive forward enhancements which will improve the customer experience beyond our required legal commitments and government guidelines. We seek to provide an excellent customer experience for our disabled users and to become an exemplar site for accessibility.

Approach

Our approach to accessibility is to make services easy to use and understand for all customers. This includes anyone who needs to or prefers to customise their computing devices so that they can access the HOMCorp website effectively. Our approach is to provide simple uncluttered web pages with clear, easy to follow content or systems to work with. We recognise that it is not just disabled people who are affected by accessibility and, our strategy, plans and vision also include people:

  • surfing the web using mobile devices
  • who block pop-ups and do not use JavaScript
  • using systems with slow bandwidth connections
  • using old browsers or old computers
  • who don’t speak or understand English fluently
  • who are not confident using computers and require easy to use systems

Core user tasks

All users visiting the HOMCorp site should be able to:

  • transact with HOMCorp using our online services
  • use the search function to find the information they require
  • find out how they can contact HOMCorp
  • find how they can provide feedback to HOMCorp and do so
  • customise HOMCorp pages to meet their own needs and requirements
  • find how to obtain information or access to services in alternative formats
  • complete all of the above tasks using screen readers and other commonly used forms of assistive technology.

Customer involvement

One of the guiding principles of the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act is that disabled people should be involved in the development and testing of services. We seek the views of disabled users on the quality of our website through feedback, consultation and research with disabled customer groups including the HOMCorp Disabled Customers Consultation Group (DCCG). HOMCorp involves, and will continue to involve, all appropriate stakeholders, including those with disabilities, in the development and testing of new services and informational content

New content, services & applications

HOMCorp strives to ensure that all new website content, services and applications meet the requirements of the DDA and adhere to the W3C WCAG 1.0 AA accessibility standards. We are achieving this accessibility standard by:

  • Performing pre and post publication checks against all html pages as part of the day to day publishing process
  • Validating all new templates or revisions to templates against AA accessibility standards before being implemented to the live website.
  • Including specific accessibility checks as part of the development checkpoints that HOMCorp Online services must go through before publication to the website.
  • By ensuring that new web content is clearly presented and written in a way that is easy to understand and follow.
    Legacy content, services & applications

We are identifying and implementing accessibility improvements on a priority basis and we are improving the accessibility of legacy content, services and applications by:

  • Regularly reviewing our online content, services and applications and where possible improving accessibility levels by adding accessibility features.
  • Regularly testing our site for accessibility. Live content and services on the HOMCorp website are tested as part of business as usual by HOMCorp

Co-ordinating accessibility improvements through an accessibility steering group that includes representatives from across the HOMCorp website team

Enquiries may be addressed to vkg@homcorp.com