Accessibility Policy

GMS & Associates Limited

1. Introduction:

1.1 GMS & Associates (‘the Company’) aims to ensure that all groups regardless of disabilities have equal access to our services. This page explains:

• our approach to making this website accessible;

• the features provided to enhance the site’s and services’ accessibility;

• what to do if you have any questions or feedback for us.

1.2 Definition of ‘disability’

The Equality Act defines a ‘disability’ as when a person has ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse impact on a person’s ability to carry out normal everyday activities’. ‘Disabled users and/or associates’, for the purpose of this policy, refers not only to those with physical disabilities but could include, for example, those with health issues, including mental health, or learning disabilities if they meet the legal definition of ‘disability’.

1.3 Expectations of staff

Staff have a responsibility to:

• Ensure that they do not treat a disabled person less favourably than someone else for a reason relating to the person’s disability;

• Not indirectly discriminate against a user with a disability by failing to make a reasonable adjustment when a disabled user is placed, or is likely to be placed, at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with a person who is not disabled;

• Implement reasonable adjustments;

• Ensure that if a user or associate discloses a disability, the member of staff should request their permission, where appropriate, to share this information with relevant persons

1.4 This policy covers three aspects:

1.4.1 Increasing the extent to which disabled users and associates can take advantage of the Company site’s and services The Company offers

1.4.2 Improving the provision of written information to disabled users and associates, especially those which has already been produced for users and associates who are not disabled. This will include planning approaches by which the Company will make written information (e.g., handouts, schedules, and information about Company events) more accessible. The delivery of such information should be in ways which are determined after considering the users’ and associates’ disabilities and any preferences expressed by them and be within a reasonable timeframe.

1.5 The Company is committed to meeting legislative requirements, providing access as defined above and nurturing a culture of inclusion, support, and awareness. The Company will not treat disabled users and associates less favourably and will take reasonable steps (the ‘reasonable adjustment’ duty) to avoid putting them at a disadvantage in matters of admission and utilizing our services. As a result, the Company has regard to the need to allocate adequate resources for the implementation of this policy.

2. Approach

2.1 We believe that this website meets or exceeds the requirements of A criteria of the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative (WCAG WAI) 2.0 guidelines.

3. Reasonable Adjustments

3.1 The ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ duty

The duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ does not include a duty to change physical features. It does include a duty ‘to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to provide auxiliary aids … where a disabled person would, but for the provision of the auxiliary aids, be put at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter in comparison with persons who are not disabled’

4. Increasing the extent to which disabled users and associates can use the Company’s website:

KEYBOARD ACCESS – We have provided ‘skip to main content’ links to allow direct access past the navigation menu to the page’s main content.TEXT SIZE – You can vary the text size by using your browser’s text resize option: View – Text Size.

ALTERNATIVE TEXT FOR IMAGES – All images have been given appropriate alternative text.

HEADING ELEMENTS – HTML heading elements have been used to represent page structure, supporting assistive technologies that allow page navigation from heading to heading.

LINK TEXT – All hyperlinks should make sense when read out of context, and hyperlinks are clearly presented in a different text style from normal body text.

JAVASCRIPT INDEPENDENCE – Where JavaScript or other scripts are used for navigation or functionality, an alternative mechanism has been put in place in case your browser does not support these scripts.

COLOUR CONTRAS – We have checked text and background colour combinations to ensure that the contrast is sufficient, and we have also ensured that information is not referenced by colour alone.

STYLE SHEETS – We have used Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control the presentation of pages and have used properly structured markup for content. If style sheets are not supported or are turned off, information on the site can still be accessed and read.

5. Staff Training

5.1 should also take specific action to enable the effective use of services by users and associates with disabilities, for example by:

• planning appropriate amounts of time to allow for the satisfactory completion of tasks, for taking account of the very slow pace at which some persons will be able to record work, either manually or with specialist equipment, and of the physical effort required

• being aware of the effort required by some persons to follow oral work, whether through use of residual hearing, lip reading or a signer, and of the tiredness or loss of concentration which may occur.

• Staff training and development will take place to ensure that access is further enhanced.

6. Questions and Feedback

If you have any difficulty in accessing any information on this website or if you have any feedback for us, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us.