General Social Care Council

Accessibility

This website is run by the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

The GSCC is committed to making this website as easy to use for as wide a range of visitors as possible.

Our objective is to conform to the guidelines for UK government websites, which support the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. We currently achieve level AA standards on all pages.

Accessibility help

Navigation aids

Audio/speech accessibility

Links

Images

Visual design

Changes you can make to this website

Navigation aids

Many features on the GSCC website are designed to make it easier for you to find what you want:

• The homepage has a search box and advanced search options
• Breadcrumb trails have been used on the website so that you always know where you are and can easily navigate back to the homepage or a specific page
• All pages have an `forward by email' option. Clicking on this will let you send a link of the page. The address of the page (URL) is already filled in: all you have to do is fill in the email address and send it
• All pages have a `print this page' option to open a `print-friendly' version of the page

Audio/speech accessibility

This website is BrowseAloud enabled. BrowseAloud will read this website (including PDF and Word files) aloud to you in a human-sounding voice. Download the software for free from the BrowseAloud Download Page. Once you have installed it click the Browsealoud link at the top-right of each page to use it.

Links

Wherever possible links are written to make sense out of context, so that you do not have to read the surrounding text to understand where the link will take you.

You will always be warned if clicking on a link opens a file or website in a new browser window. The warning is either contained in the link itself, the title or in the text immediately after the link.

Images

All graphics and images on the website have an alternative text attribute that describes the contents or function of the image. This description will be displayed when images are turned off, on a text-only browser or as a `tool tip' in certain browsers when the mouse pointer is moved over the image. Images that are purely decorative are given an empty alternative text attribute.

Visual design

A number of elements have been included in the design of the website to make it easier for everyone to use:

• Text can be resized using the `text size' option at the top of every page
• Where colours are used we have tried to make sure there is maximum contrast between foreground and background items. You can change colour contrasts using the option at the top of every page
• If your browser or reading device does not support stylesheets, all content will still be readable

Changes you can make to this website

Change the size of the text

Text can be resized using the `text size A A A A’ function on the top of each pager. Alternatively select ‘Text Size’ from the ‘View’ menu in your browser. In some browsers ‘Text Size’ may be called ‘Text Zoom’ or Zoom’).

Change the contrast of the text

To change any text on this website to high contrast click the last ‘A’ next to ‘Text size’ at the top of each page. You have the option to switch to yellow text on black, which is recommended for high contrast and easy reading for people with learning disabilities.

If you have more specialised needs read more help with accessibility. This page tells you how to change the colour of the text, change the colour of the background and how to remove images.

Accessibility advice for Apple Mac users

The Apple Mac operating system includes many accessibility options including resizing text, text-to-speech and keyboard alternatives to mouse functions.

For full details visit the Apple website's section on accessibility.

Other ways of using PDF documents

This site uses PDF files to display certain documents.

We endeavour to make PDF files on our site accessible to screen readers but as yet cannot guarantee that all content of every PDF online is accessible. As an alternative we provide a link to Adobe’s online PDF conversion tool.

Access keys

s = skip to content

1 = home page

2 = login

3 = sitemap

4 = contact us

5 = concerns about social workers

6 = Ask us a question

7 = Contact directory

8 = Privacy policy

9 = Disclaimer

0 = accessibility

We have used government standard access keys, where they apply to this site. These are to help you navigate through the main areas of a website using keyboard shortcuts.

With Windows-based systems - Press the Alt key and the access key number or letter below. Then press Enter.

With Apple Mac-based systems - Press the Ctrl key and the access key number or letter below.

Access keys on this website

S - skip navigation

1 - homepage

9 - contact us

0 - accessibility (this page)

Further help

If you are having technical difficulties while using our website, the site does not appear to be working properly or you find broken links, please email website@gscc.org.uk with a description of the problem.