Newcastle Building Society (NBS) has collaborated with an assistive technology company, Recite Me, to add accessibility and language tools to its website. The aim is to support customers accessing content more easily, including those with visual impairments, disabilities and whose first language is not English.
In England, 9.8 million people live with a disability and can often face barriers that prevent them from taking an active part in life. Newcastle Building Society has already made diversity, equity and inclusion one of its five strategic priorities, and the roll-out of Recite Me’s accessibility support technology on the Society’s website comes as part of this commitment, as well as reflecting its wider purpose to connect its communities with a better financial future.
Inclusivity means all customers
Jennie Pitt, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Newcastle Building Society, commented: “We’re committed to making it easy for all of our customers to interact with us in the way they choose. That’s why, as well as continuing to invest in and grow our branch network to ensure our communities maintain access to face-to-face financial services, we’re making it simpler for members to manage their finances online by making our website accessible to everyone.”
Meeting higher standards
The introduction of the Recite Me tool is also in support of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) newly introduced guidelines to create a higher standard of consumer protection. The Recite Me tools, available on the Newcastle Building Society website, allow users to access the screen reading functionality, multiple reading aids, customisable styling options and an on-demand live translation feature capable of interpreting over 100 languages, including text-to-speech.
Jennie added: “Recite Me’s accessibility software provides the ideal platform for us to uphold our commitment to delivering a website that everybody can easily use and enables us to offer a customisable experience for our website visitors and members in a way that meets their individual needs.
“Ensuring that as many people as possible are able to access our website and obtain the information they need, or carry out the tasks they require, is important for our Society in enabling us to deliver high levels of customer service and an inclusive experience for our members.”
Newcastle Building Society is committed to inclusivity as a workplace, for its members, and in its community approach. Currently, the Society has a variety of partnerships, including long-term relationships with other Recite Me clients Newcastle United Foundation and the Prince’s Trust.
To try the assistive tools on Newcastle Building Society’s website, visit www.newcastle.co.uk. For more information on Recite Me go to www.reciteme.com.
