Accessibility

Our commitment to accessibility

At USS, we want all our members to be able to use this website, including people who use assistive technologies or have visual, hearing, cognitive or physical impairments.

We follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published by the W3C, which outline how to make digital content more accessible. These guidelines have three levels of conformance: A, AA and AAA. Our aim is to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA across our website.

We recognise that accessibility is an ongoing process, and we are committed to making continuous improvements.

How accessible the website is

Most of our website is accessible. We:

• Use strong colour contrasts
• Use headings correctly so content is structured clearly
• Make sure links accurately describe their purpose
• Use properly marked‑up tables
• Use style sheets to assist screen‑reading devices
• Provide alternative text for meaningful images
• Add captions to videos
• Support keyboard navigation and tabbing

However, some parts of this website are not fully accessible, and these are listed below.

Non-accessible content (known issues)

We use a mixture of automated tools and manual testing when checking accessibility. Different tools detect different issues — as shown in W3C’s evaluation‑tool guidance — and many findings require human interpretation before being documented. WAVE also notes that automated tests highlight issues that need human review.

1. Decorative banner images

Some pages include decorative banner images that are currently coded with role="img" due to a component limitation. Tools that enforce strict ARIA rules (such as axe DevTools) may report these banners as missing a text alternative because role="img" requires an accessible name.

These banners do not contain essential information, and this issue does not affect site usability. We are updating this component so that decorative banners are correctly identified by assistive technologies.

2. PDF documents

Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible. We are replacing these with accessible HTML versions wherever possible.

These are the only known accessibility issues currently affecting the site.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

• Updating the banner component to correctly mark decorative images
• Replacing PDFs with accessible HTML formats
• Improving the accessibility of new and existing components
• Reviewing and updating content for WCAG 2.2 AA compliance

How we test this website

Our testing includes:

Automated checks

We use tools such as WAVE, Lighthouse and axe DevTools. Each highlights different issues, so using them together provides broader coverage, as noted by accessibility‑tool guidance. WAVE also confirms the need for human interpretation for automated findings.

Manual checks

• Keyboard‑only navigation
• Screen reader testing (such as NVDA)
• Reviewing page structure, reading order and focus behaviour

Testing is carried out on an ongoing basis.

Feedback and contact information

If you experience accessibility issues or need information in an alternative format (such as accessible PDFs, large print, audio or braille), please contact us:

Email: digital@uss.co.uk

Phone: 0333 300 1043 — lines are open 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday.

We will respond as soon as possible and help you access the information you need.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

USS is committed to making its website accessible in line with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. This website is partially compliant, due only to the issues listed above.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was last reviewed on 21 March 2026. This website was last tested using a combination of automated and manual techniques as described above.

Supported browsers

To get the best experience when using uss.co.uk, we recommend using one of the supported browsers below. This information is provided to help members access the site effectively.