This accessibility statement applies to the Gower College Swansea website: https://www.gcs.ac.uk/
This website is run by Gower College Swansea.
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
My Computer My Way has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability and the AT Hive can help you find assistive technologies that work for you.
In this report:
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the non-accessible content section of this statement.
Feedback and contact information
If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: digitalaccessibility@gowercollegeswansea.ac.uk
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, contact: marketing@gcs.ac.uk
We'll consider your request and respond within 5 working days. For simple alternative formats, such as existing Word documents, accessible PDFs, and HTML, we aim to provide these within 10 working days. For more complex requests, such as remediation, transcription, and captioning, we'll try to provide these within 20 working days. If it takes longer than expected, we'll keep you informed.
Read tips on contacting organisation about inaccessible websites.
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).
If you are in Northern Ireland and are not happy with how we respond to your complaint you can contact the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland who are responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’) in Northern Ireland.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Gower College Swansea 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
The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Website issues:
- For some of the focus indication across page header elements this does not meet contrast requirements where the focus indication is yellow on white or light grey backgrounds. This fails WCAG 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA).
Document issues:
- Some of our documents contain images without alternative text descriptions. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (AA).
- Some of our documents do not have appropriate heading or lists structures, are missing bookmarks, and may contain tables without appropriate table structure. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
- Some of our documents are missing tags which may make them harder to use with assistive technology. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
- Some of our documents are missing document titles. This fails WCAG 2.4.2 Page Title (A).
- Some of our documents are missing a declared language. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 Language of Page (A).
We have reviewed the issues identified in our last accessibility audit, carried out in April 2026, and are working to fix them. We plan to resolve the website focus indication issue and to make our documents fully accessible by April 2027.
If you find an issue that we have yet to identify or require one of our documents customised to your needs, please contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Feedback and contact information’ section of this statement.
Disproportionate burden
At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are not accessible. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We are currently working on fixing these documents or replacing them with accessible html web pages. This work will be completed by April 2027.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix https://www.gcs.ac.uk/sites/default/files/FOI%20Privacy%20Notice.pdf until a newer version of the document is released.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Video content
All new video content we produce will have appropriate captions, audio descriptions and transcripts as necessary.
Online maps
Several pages include online maps to supplement the address and contact information (for example the location of the Gorseinon campus. The address information is available in text format).
We also have Matterport 3D scan maps to help promote the features of the campus as virtual tours. We have found that these can be very useful for neurodiverse visitors but may be less accessible to blind visitors for example. We offer alternative support to help accommodate accessibility needs when visiting our campus.
Archive content
Some of the content in the news section of the website is classified as an archive. This kind of historically recorded content is exempt from meeting the digital accessibility regulations. If you require a specific piece of archive content and it is not accessible, please contact us using the methods above and we will provide an accessible version of the content on request.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 16th January 2023. It was last reviewed on 17th July 2026.
This website was last tested on April 2026 against the WCAG 2.2 standard. The test was carried out internally with previous tests carried out by McNaught Consulting. The testing was conducted on a sample of pages using a range of manual and automated testing approaches including keyboard testing, screen reader testing (NVDA and Windows Narrator), testing with browser plugins and triangulating with WAVE, SiteImprove and Accessibility Insights tools.
How to get the most from our website
Gower College Swansea has been actively working to improve the user experience of our website before our redesign and relaunch in late 2023.
In the meantime, here are ways we have worked to give you as accessible an experience as we can. We make some suggestions about browser plugins in the section below. These are made in good faith to enhance user experience, but you use them at your own risk. The college cannot take responsibility for unforeseen problems, and we cannot provide technical support.
If you prefer listening to information rather than reading it, you can use the Microsoft Edge browser. The built in text to speech will read almost all the text content on our website.
The site can be zoomed up to 400% and content will reflow to fit the page. You do not have to scroll left and right to read it. Just use the CTRL and + key to zoom in or CTRL and - to zoom out. On a Mac use the Command + and - key instead. The website responds well on desktop and on mobile. New content is created using responsive templates to give you a consistent magnification experience.
Did you know?
You can also magnify text by changing the default text size in the browser under your browser settings. This can give up to 200% magnification and still remain usable.
Getting around the site
You can navigate the site in three ways.
- A consistent top-level navigation (white text on deep pink).
- Breadcrumb trails are available for some deeper level pages.
- Using the search box.
All 3 options can be accessed by keyboard or mouse.
Getting around a page
The website pages use header tags and labelled content regions to give pages a helpful structure. Users can benefit by:
- using browser plugins like HeadingsMap for Chrome to swiftly navigate the page,
- using inbuilt screen reader keystrokes to browse by heading levels,
- using "Skip links" to let you bypass repetitive navigation blocks.
Keyboard access
All parts of the website can be navigated using standard keystrokes. The tab order is logical, and the currently focused item is visually highlighted.
For example:
- Tab moves forward through active elements (e.g., hyperlinks). Shift Tab moves back,
- Enter confirms selections,
- Arrow keys move through options.
We have improved the colour contrasts on most of the site, but a few issues remain (see Non-Accessible Content below). You can tweak your own colour backgrounds in your browser settings or with plugins like ScreenShader for Chrome. If you prefer higher contrasts, this can be achieved using the accessibility settings in your computer or browser plugins like HighContrast for Chrome.
For many people, videos are more effective ways of understanding information. We use videos on many pages. We endeavour to ensure these are captioned with accurate captions. The video player on the page can be operated using either a mouse or keyboard. The subtitling button is visible on the bottom right of the video once the video is playing. This can be toggled on or off.
Images have appropriate alternative text descriptions for screenreader users. This includes ensuring decorative images are ignored.
We have worked to ensure most hyperlinks have unique and meaningful text, avoiding the use of "click here"or raw URLs.