We recognise the importance of providing a website that is accessible to all users. As such we have made every effort to ensure that our site can be used easily by people with disabilities. The site uses features operable on screenreader software and computer screens.

To ensure we are as accessible as possible we have made significant changes to achieve a Conformance Level "AA" of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines on scottishwidows.co.uk

We have introduced the following features to ensure the best use of our site by all of our users.

Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the web site.

On Windows, press ALT + an access key, on a Macintosh, press Control + an access key.

All pages utilise the following access keys:

s - Jump to main site navigation page
1 - Jump to Jargon Translator
2 - Jump to main page content
3 - Jump to Site map
4 - Jump to site search
8 - Jump to Terms and Conditions

A hidden menu has been placed at the beginning of each page to allow screen reader users to link to the main areas of the page.

A hidden link has also been provided at the beginning of each page to provide easy access to information on accessibility.

HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles etc.

Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily.

All images have alternative text for screenreaders, browsers which don’t display images or browsers set not to display images.

All links have tool-tips. Where duplicate links occur on a page they access the same content. Accessibility keys have been included to aid accessibility (see above). Where a link opens an additional browser window, this is made explicit.

All labelling seeks to make sense out of context with its surrounding content.

We have taken care to ensure that the site’s font and background colour combinations contrast significantly and are effective in ensuring information is still clear when viewed in different colour combinations.

If you wish to override the site’s colours, you can do this by changing your browser settings to your own preference.

Most of the font sizes we use on our site are sizable. You can change the font size to make it either larger or smaller via your browser settings.

You can change the font size in the following ways depending on your browser;

This site uses cascading style sheets for all visual layout. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the use of structured semantic mark up ensures that the content of each page is still readable and clearly structured.

You can apply your own stylesheet onto this website by;

Internet Explorer
select Tools, then Internet Options, then Accessibility, next click on any or all 3 checkboxes to ignore colours, font styles or font sizes, in the same window you can change your style sheet by clicking the checkbox that says, ‘format document using my style sheet’ then browse to your style sheet and click OK.

In Firefox
select Tools, then Options and then select General, where you can specify your own colours and fonts.

The use of Java script has been kept to a minimum. Where it is used, most content is still accessible if Javascript is turned off.

If you would like to know more about accessibility and the Internet, you may be interested in the following websites:

There are also some handy tools which you can purchase or download for free, these include: