Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for niarecruitment.org

The Northern Ireland Assembly is always working to make this website accessible and easy to use for everyone, no matter what browser you use, and whether or not you have any disabilities. For example, that means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to most of the website using a screen reader

You may find the following links useful in adjusting the settings of the browser that you use to navigate our website more comfortably

Please be aware that when navigating the Northern Ireland Recruitment site, we recommend not using the Internet Explorer browser. As this browser now only receives minimal support and updates, much of the functionality of the site is not fully supported by this browser.

For further guidance on adapting your computer to your accessibility needs, visit AbilityNet. Their site shows you how to:

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

How accessible is the website?

Please note that this accessibility statement covers the accessibility of this website, niarecruitment.org, and does not cover the accessibility of the iTrent application portal which is where interested applicants are directed to complete their application. If you encounter any issues with the application portal please contact the Assembly’s Human Resources Office:

Email: recruitment@niassembly.gov.uk
Telephone: 02890 521741

We have endeavoured to make the website as accessible as possible however you may encounter sections that are not as easy to navigate as others are.

Our interactive organisational chart and interactive recruitment and selection framework may be difficult to navigate. If you experience any issues, you can access the text versions provided.
Some pages may have poor colour contrast.
There may be some issues tabbing through the website with your keyboard. If you experience any difficulty, please let us know and we will look to address the issue.
Some online forms may be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard. If you do encounter any issues, let us know and we will provide the service to you in a different format.
There’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page. Please use our text directions to find out how to get to the Estate.
Our ‘History of the Assembly’ video is not fully accessible (it lacks subtitles and audio description).

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Email: info@niassembly.gov.uk
Call: 028 9052 1137
Postal Address: Northern Ireland Assembly, Parliament Buildings, Ballymiscaw, Stormont , Belfast BT4 3XX
Textphone: 028 9052 1209 (Please note that this is a textphone number only)

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

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

Maintaining an accessible site is an ongoing process and the Assembly Web Team welcomes any feedback that will help us improve accessibility on the website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email info@niassembly.gov.uk or call 028 9052 1137.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) 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 Commission.

Visiting Parliament Buildings

If you would like to visit the building, please view our accessibility information to find out the arrangements and facilities that we offer.

You can also view our virtual tour. Our virtual tour videos come with subtitles and there are also British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language versions.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

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

Non accessible content

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

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

Our interactive organisational chart and interactive recruitment and selection framework may be difficult to access. These interactive charts fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text). However we have provided text alternatives for anyone who experiences difficulties.

The ‘History of the Assembly’ video does not contain subtitles for the clips of Plenary proceedings or audio description. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) and WCAG 2.1 success crierion 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded).

Some of the images included in our online picture gallery do not contain appropriate Alt Text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content.

Navigation and accessing information

When navigating the website with a keyboard, it is possible to skip repeated content in the page header and links will be highlighted as you tab through them. We have also taken steps to avoid keyboard ‘traps’. Content should still be accessible whether viewed in horizontal or vertical orientation and no matter how large the text size.

If you have any difficulty in navigating the site or accessing content, please get in touch and we will consider the issue and provide the content in an alternative format where possible.

Interactive tools and transactions

Our interactive forms should be easily navigable (as each form control has an associated ‘label’ tag). If you experience any problems, please get in touch and we can process your request in another manner if appropriate.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Our inquiries contact form is built using the WordPress platform and its associated contact form widget. Our newsletter form is also built using a WordPress widget integrated with MailChimp, the email management service.

PDFs and other documents

We try to ensure that all PDF and documents on the website are as accessible as possible. Before uploading Word documents we use the Microsoft Word 2019 Accessibility Check to search for any issues and then take appropriate action to remedy anything highlighted. Similarly, PDF documents are analysed using Adobe Acrobat’s inbuilt Accessibility tool and any issues are addressed with the recommended actions before upload.

How we tested this website

This website, niarecruitment.org, was last tested in-house on 5 December 2022.

As the website is comparatively small, we tested every page using online accessibility audit tools. However the site was not tested with any assistive technologies and therefore there may be sections of the site which may prove difficult to access or navigate. If you do experience any of these issues, please get in touch.

This accessibility statement applies only to the niarecruitment.org microsite and not our main website, niassembly.gov.uk, or any of our other microsites.

This statement was prepared on 1 November 2019. It was last updated on 5 December 2022.