You Said, We did: improving accessibility to tenant news and updates

RWP is committed to delivering accessible communication as part of its work around the consumer standards. We are regularly reviewing the quality of accessibility of information for our tenants, and recently we assessed our tenant newsletter.

Importance of accessible versions

Ensuring tenants with sight impairments, a learning disability, or additional needs can access the tenant news and updates from the newsletter is important. During a review of the tenant newsletters for accessibility, we identified limitations for tenants with sight impairments and additional needs to fully engage with the newsletter, if the only option was to read the newsletter in its original format. This would place a reliance on a tenant receiving support on accessing the content and there would be the risk of possible time constraints with support. Providing audio and screen reader friendly versions provides an option that allows for tenants to access the newsletter in their own time, in their preferred order and pace, and opens up access to the full contents of the newsletter in an engaging format.

You Said, We did

Tenant feedback on the newsletters helped to inform us on where to make improvements related to accessibility. This included listening to tenants sharing feedback on RWP’s winter newsletter in a virtual hub meeting which was led by Diane Nash, RWP’s Customer Voice Manager.

In this feedback session, one tenant shared that they had trouble viewing the images, including the flower image that is part of the ‘spot the flower’ competition which is run in every edition. Unfortunately, this meant exclusion from a tenant competition and full engagement with news and updates.

We listened to this feedback, and this helped to drive a focus on image descriptions in the audio version of the tenant newsletters. We also adapted the ‘spot the flower’ competition in the audio script, so tenants can still take part if they are listening to the audio newsletter.

The different newsletter versions

The different tenant newsletter versions now available for RWP are audio, screen reader friendly, and high contrast (mono).

Audio: the audio version includes a complete translation of the newsletter to audio with adaptations to allow accessibility to the ‘spot the flower’ competition, the front cover, along with image descriptions and tweaks to make the introduction and conclusion of the newsletter clear to listeners. RWP has also included the LiLAC insert spread in the audio version.

Screen reader friendly: tenants can download a screen reader friendly version, which can be used with screen reader applications. The newsletter can be listened to using screen reader applications that suit the needs of the tenant, and they are comfortable and familiar with using it to listen to documents.

A high-contrast (mono) version: tenants can download a high-contrast PDF of the newsletter. The colours have been changed to mono (black and white contrast) to help people view the images and text.

Accessing the different versions

Future editions of RWP’s Your News, will continue to be available in accessible formats that can be downloaded from the RWP website. It is important that the different accessible versions are available alongside the newsletter upon its release, so there is no delay for tenants who need an accessible version, in being able to access the news and updates. Tenants can access previous newsletter editions on the RWP website. To allow for easy access to the different versions, we have included a QR code in the RWP newsletter that goes straight to the newsletter page on the website.

RWP’s newsletter, Your News:  https://www.residewithprogress.org.uk/your-home/your-newsletter/