Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office’s website https://www.pdso.org.uk/.

This website is run by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. We want https://www.pdso.org.uk/ to be accessible and usable for as many people as possible.

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

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.

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

• some heading elements are not consistent
• some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

• Communications
• email communications@slab.org.uk
• call 0131 240 1887

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please see our Other languages and formats page (external link to the Scottish Legal Aid Board website).

If you cannot view the maps on our Our offices page, call or email us for directions using the details above.

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Users of British Sign Language can contact us using the Contact Scotland-BSL service. Please go to the British Sign Language website for more information on how to do this.

Find out how to contact or visit us on our contact us page.

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).

The Scottish Legal Aid Board is committed to making its Public Defence Solicitors’ Office website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

1. Some images do not have text alternatives, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (A) (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by June 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

These tools may flag issues that our beyond our control:

1. The embedded Google Recaptcha tool on every page
2. The embedded Google Translate tool on every page
3. Some embedded iFrames.

Content that’s 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 will regularly test the website for accessibility issues.

This website was last tested in January 2024.

We tested all page types on our main website platform.

This statement was prepared in August 2019. It was last reviewed on 26 February 2024

This website was last tested in January 2024 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The test was carried out by Monsido as well as further testing by website developers Minus40. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.