Accessibility statement
We are committed to reducing the barriers experienced by people with disabilities.
This accessibility statement applies to content published on the following domains:
These websites are managed by Sovereign Housing Association, and are designed to be used by as many people as possible.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 
AA standard.
We are constantly working to improve the accessibility of our website by following W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 and aiming to be AA compliant. These guidelines explain how to make websites more accessible and usable, which means everyone will find our website easier to use.
This site has been built using code compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. This means our website should display properly in current browsers and any future browsers.
The text should be clear and simple to understand. You should be able to:
- zoom in up to 300% without problems
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).
Integrated into our website is a third party jobs portal (jobs.sovereign.org.uk/jobs/ ), which is provided by eArcu . Like our other websites, this site has been tested against W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 and is AA compliant. The site is tested via automated testing on an ongoing basis to ensure it remains compliant.
Customise your experience
We're committed to making our websites easy to use and our sites have been created to be usable straight away. But you may get a better experience by customising them to suit your individual needs.
Our website has accessibility and translation software. You can have the site text read aloud to you via our Recite Me toolbar , which you can find by clicking on the Accessibility tools link at the top of each webpage.
If you click on this link, the Recite Me toolbar will appear. It allows you to have the website content spoken to you, as well as being able to change the font size, the font and background colours, plus translating the website to another language.
You can find instructions for using the Recite Me toolbar in our user guide.
For videos and guides about how to customise your experience, visit the BBC's My Web, My Way . On that website, you can learn about your computer’s accessibility features and useful software you can install. These are known as assistive technologies.
AbilityNet also has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible is this website?
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the 'Non-accessible content' section below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- PDFs and non-HTML documents - many documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives, missing document structure and incorrect heading order. We are looking at ways to improve the accessibility of these documents but, if you find any that are hard to read, please contact us for an alternative.
- Some video content may not have captions, transcripts or audio description. We are currently creating transcripts of older content and ensuring that all video content has captions.
- Our website includes the use of online maps to show certain geographical information. These are not used for navigational purposes and are exempt under the regulations. If you require the information presented in an online map in a different format, please contact us to discuss reasonable adjustments.
- Some of our services include third party content which we have no control over, such as documents which are sent to us and uploaded, social sharing icons on blogs and play buttons on videos. The accessibility regulations do not require us to manage these kinds of content but, if you have a problem with any of the content hosted on our websites, please contact us and we will try to help.
If you find an issue that we have not identified, please contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Reporting accessibility problems with this website’ section of this statement.
We have chosen to produce this accessibility statement to support our users and our requirements under the Equality Act 2010.
How we tested this website
February 2024
We asked Shaw Trust (a charity which support organisations to create an accessible environment, both digitally and physically) to independently assess the accessibility of our websites – including testing by users with a range of disabilities, some using assistive technologies. Their report then detailed any accessibility issues, so that we could make adjustments and improvements.
View our Sovereign.org.uk accessibility certificate
View our My.Sovereign.org.uk accessibility certificate
View our Sovereignliving.org.uk accessibility certificate
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 16 March 2023. It was last reviewed on 16 February 2024.
This website was last tested on 7 February 2024. The test was carried out by Shaw Trust.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact us:
- digital@sovereign.org.uk
- 0300 5000 926
- via Facebook
In your message, please include:
- the web address (URL) of the content
- your email address and name
- the format you need, for example, plain text, braille, BSL, large print.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in five working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact digital@sovereign.org.uk.