This accessibility statement applies to the Balliol College website (www.balliol.ox.ac.uk) and the Balliol alumni website (www.alumniweb.ox.ac.uk/balliol/).
How accessible this website is
This website is run by Balliol College. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, including those with disabilities.
You should be able to access most of the website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Navigate most of the website using a keyboard
- Use most of the website with a screen reader
- Zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
However, we know that some users may experience barriers when using parts of the website. We are aware of these issues and are working to improve accessibility, prioritising the most significant barriers.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the reasons given.
Known accessibility issues
These include:
- Some navigation elements and menus, particularly on mobile devices, which may not be fully operable using a keyboard or assistive technologies
- Certain forms, including registration and login functionality on the alumni website, which may not be fully accessible
- Some images and links which do not have appropriate alternative text or accessible labels
- Colour contrast and focus indicator issues on some interactive elements
- Some structural and semantic markup issues, including inconsistent heading structures, which may affect screen reader navigation
We prioritise fixing issues that have the greatest impact on users’ ability to access key content and services, and are working to address the most critical barriers.
Alumni website
The alumni website is scheduled to be migrated into the main College website this year.
Due to this planned redevelopment, we are prioritising accessibility improvements on the new platform. On the existing alumni website, we are focusing on addressing critical accessibility issues that significantly impact users, rather than undertaking full remediation.
Newsletter archive
We provide an archive of our alumni newsletters on the site. This archive contains a large volume of legacy HTML content which may not be fully accessible. Issues may include missing alternative text, unclear link text, lack of page headings, and the use of tables for layout.
Retrofitting all archived newsletters to meet current accessibility standards would represent a disproportionate burden due to the volume of content and the manual effort required. We are ensuring that all new newsletters are created in line with accessibility best practices.
If you require access to information contained within archived newsletters in an alternative format, please contact the Development Office.
PDFs
Wherever possible we have provided accessible versions of PDFs published after 23 September 2018, with the following exceptions:
- Floreat Domus 2019: see ‘disproportionate burden’ below. If you have any queries, please contact the Publications and Web Officer.
- Catering risk assessments for coronavirus: see ‘disproportionate burden’ below. If you have any queries, please contact the Executive Head Chef.
Virtual tour
Some users may have difficulty using the virtual tour using only keyboard navigation. We are investigating how we can improve it.
Navigation while magnified
We are aware that you cannot use the mobile menu with using keyboard-only navigation, when zoomed in to the site 300% and over. We are investigating ways how to fix this.
Other associated websites
Historic Collections @ Balliol: see ‘disproportionate burden’ below. If you have any queries, please contact the Librarian.
Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts: This website will be decommissioned as soon as the content has been transferred to a digital collection management system. This work is currently in progress. If you have any queries, please contact the Archivist.
Disproportionate burden
Newsletter archive: This archive contains a large volume of legacy HTML content which may not be fully accessible. Retrofitting all archived newsletters to meet current accessibility standards would represent a disproportionate burden due to the volume of content and the manual effort required. We are ensuring that all new newsletters are created in line with accessibility best practices.
Floreat Domus 2019 PDF: Unfortunately the original InDesign file from which we could make an accessible PDF is no longer available, and we believe that the time and cost involved in recreating it would impose a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
Historic Collections @ Balliol: Likewise we believe that the time and cost involved in making this blog site accessible would impose a disproportionate burden on the College.
Forms in the alumni section: The forms do not reflow over 400% magnification, which means that people who need to magnify the site in order to see it may have trouble with these forms. The time and cost associated with rebuilding this aspect of the website would be a disproportionate burden. We endeavour to provide an alternative means of accessing the same information when inviting users to complete forms.
Videos: our video content is hosted on YouTube, which provides automatically generated sub-titles. The time and cost involved in providing full captions and audio descriptions for all videos would impose a disproportionate burden.
Catering risk assessments (see coronavirus): these PDFs were supplied by a third party and the time and cost of making them accessible would be a disproportionate burden.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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. We do not plan to fix the PDFs of our alumni magazines published before that date.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Video (prerecorded)
Some of our videos are not audio described. This makes it difficult for people who are visually impaired to access all the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5 (Audio description (Prerecorded).
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix Prerecorded time-based media published before September 2020. However, we will endeavour to provide transcripts of some of the key videos on the site.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Third-party platforms
We often create content which is hosted on third-party platforms. This includes:
- content we create for social media
- video which we host on YouTube or Vimeo
- PDFs of publications hosted on Heyzine
We are responsible for ensuring the content we supply meets accessibility requirements. However, we do not have full control over the accessibility of third-party platforms themselves.
Where third-party tools are not fully accessible, we aim to provide alternative ways to access the same content. For example, for publications displayed using the Heyzine flipbook, we provide accessible PDF alternatives.
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact us:
- webmaster@balliol.ox.ac.uk
- 01865 277768
We will consider your request and respond within 14 days.
If you cannot view the map on our Maps and Directions page, please telephone the Broad Street Lodge on 01865 277777 for directions.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our websites. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us using the details above.
You can also write to:
Publications and Communications Officer
Balliol College
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BJ.
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
Balliol College is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
These websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed above.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 26 August 2020. It was last reviewed and updated on 9 April 2026.
This website was last tested in July and August 2025 against WCAG 2.2 AA standards. Testing was carried out by Agile Collective on a representative sample of pages, in line with the guidance on gov.uk.