Accessibility statement for Apply for your immigration health surcharge reimbursement as a student

This accessibility statement applies to the Apply for your immigration health surcharge reimbursement as a student website.

This website is run by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard or speech recognition software (Voice Control and Dragon)
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent version of Voice Over and NVDA)

We've also 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 some parts of this website are not fully accessible, as:

Mac Voice Control users will face difficulties when accessing email links due to their length
on mouse hover, screen fields and controls are not announced to screen reader users
cookie banner content is not read completely, and some page content is read twice to screen reader users using the NVDA screen reader
users will find it difficult to identify the field in error on the date of birth screen as all the fields are highlighted, not just the field causing the error
users will face difficulties on the date of birth screen when using special characters as part of their input
Mac Voice Control users will not be able to open links with hidden text unless they use the exact wording of the display text and the hidden text

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, you can contact us by:

Email: accessibility@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

This email address is only for accessibility queries. It is not for technical queries or IT problems. If you have a query that is not about accessibility, go to the ‘Contact us’ section of this page.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, you can contact us by:

Email: accessibility@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

Contact us

For all queries not accessibility related, you can contact us by:

Email: nhsbsa.ihsstudents@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

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).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The NHS Business Services Authority 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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Mac Voice Control users will face difficulties when accessing email links due to their length. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role, value).

On mouse hover, screen fields and controls are not announced to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role, value).

Cookie banner content is not read completely, and some page content is read twice to screen reader users using the NVDA screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role, value).

Users will find it difficult to identify the field in error on the date of birth screen as all the fields are highlighted, not just the field causing the error. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.1 (Error identification).

Users will face difficulties on the date of birth screen when using special characters as part of their input. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.1 (Error identification).

Mac Voice Control users will not be able to open links with hidden text unless they use the exact wording of the display text and the hidden text. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1 (Compatible).

We plan to fix these accessibility issues. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure it meets accessibility standards.

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

External links

Some links from the website will direct users to external websites where accessibility issues have been identified. This may cause difficulties for users with accessibility needs or those that use assistive technologies.

We’ll review the usage of these links before our next accessibility review and contact these third parties to identify the issues we have found.

Document upload

Due to an issue with Dragon and some older versions of this assistive technology, users will have difficulties interacting with the document upload buttons. We advise Dragon users to use the mouse grid feature to interact with the file upload functionality.

Timeouts

If using the Firefox browser, screen reader users get a warning their session is about to end but are not warned about the remaining time limit at first. After 15 seconds has elapsed screen readers then read the full content of the timeout warning. We’ll review this before our next accessibility review.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We’re committed to making sure this website is compliant to WCAG 2.2 ‘AA’ standard.

Our accessibility compliance statement will be reviewed regularly. Every new released website will be designed, built, and tested to meet ‘AA’ standards by default.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was originally prepared on 31 December 2021. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2024.

This website was last tested on 19 September 2024. The test was carried out by the NHSBSA test and development teams.

We tested all the website screens to meet ‘AA’ WCAG 2.2 standards, using manual and automated tests.

We run each webpage through automated Wave, Lighthouse and Axe accessibility tools then manually test with screen readers (NVDA or VoiceOver) and standards checklists.

We run representative user journey tests through speech recognition software (Dragon or Voice Control).

These checklists contain standards that have been compiled using WCAG, the NHS service manual and the Government Digital Service (GDS) guidance.

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