Guidance

Accessibility Statement - Apply for Student Finance SFE

Published 4 October 2024

This accessibility statement applies to the service for Student Finance England for Apply for Student Finance. It does not apply to content on the www.gov.uk domain published by the Student Loans Company.

This website is run by The Student Loans Company. 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 a keyboard or speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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.

1. How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible, this includes:

• some functionality may not be fully keyboard accessible or fully accessible with assistive technologies
• some interactive elements may not be announced by screen readers
• some PDF documents may not be fully accessible with assistive technologies
• some visual representation may not be appropriately conveyed to screen reader users, such as appropriate heading or table structure or announcing bold text as important
• when using browser zoom, navigation, uploads and other sections may not display as expected
• some of our online forms may not be fully keyboard accessible or fully accessible to assistive technologies
• progress bars do not clearly tell the user exactly where they are in the process
• some link text is longer than expected
• some page elements such as buttons are incorrectly described as links

1.1 Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact accessibility@slc.co.uk.

If you need information on this website in an alternative format, please contact alternative_format_correspondance@slc.co.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

1.2 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).

2. Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Student Loans Company is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

2.1 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.

3. Non-accessible content

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

3.1 Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

In some areas hidden text or elements may be read out to screen readers and are accessible via keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

In some areas inappropriate use of HTML tags to represent bold text, lists and headings may be used. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

In some areas, skip navigation exists but may not be keyboard operable, or may not be present at all This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard and 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks.

In some areas, tables may be used inappropriately to style pages rather than display data and table headers are hidden. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

In some input fields, character counts may not be announced by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion success criterion 4.1.3: Status Messages.

Navigation, including contact details or help, may not always be consistent throughout the service. This fails WCAG 2.2 AA success criterion 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation and 3.2.6 Consistent Help.

Some form fields may not be programmatically associated with their headings or instructions. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

Some link text may be lengthy, for example, in the tile pages which select different application types. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion Link Purpose (In Context).

Some page elements may be expanded, and one instance of a pop-up appears and some links may open in a new tab without notifying the user. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion success criterion 3.2.2: On Input and 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).

Specific error messages may not always be announced to a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2, success Criterion 3.3.1 Error Identification.

The colour contrast ratio between the foreground and background of some links and buttons including on focused state and focus indicators may not always have a ratio of at least 4.5:1. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). 

The progress bar may not be announced appropriately to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

When using browser zoom some content may not always display as expected, such as on some pages a horizontal bar appears at 400% zoom. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion success criterion 1.4.10 Reflow.

3.2 Disproportionate burden

PDF documents within this website

Some of the PDF documents we publish may not be fully accessible to all users. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with PDF documents within this website and we believe that fixing the issues within these would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulation.

We are focusing on making documents for future academic years as accessible as possible and we will reassess this in 2025. If you need a copy of any of the documents on our website currently in an alternative format, please contact alternative_format_correspondance@slc.co.uk.

4. What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are actively taking steps to improve the accessibility of our websites, services, forms and documents, this includes undertaking further training and testing.

5. Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 4 October 2024. It was last reviewed on 4 October 2024.

This service was last tested between October 2023 and September 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.