Accessibility Statement

Northern Rock recognises the importance of providing access to services that are accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.

Whilst Northern Rock strives to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. Within the secure areas of the site (areas that require users to login or register) we have provided a higher level of security to protect your personal information. Thus, some users might experience some difficulties accessing this part of our site. We are aware of this and are constantly seeking out solutions to bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall accessibility.

We are committed to increasing the accessibility and usability of our website and are actively working towards complying with Level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. However, we acknowledge that for a variety of reasons some parts of our website, including secure areas, may be difficult to access.

The following information explains how to make services and content on our website more accessible:

Accessibility features of our site

The majority of the pages on our site are set up so that you can change the colours, font style and size of text on the page to suit your visual needs.

How you do it depends on the system and web browser you're using. This is how to change the text size in the most commonly used browsers:

Change text size via browser toolbar

  • In Internet Explorer 7 , go to “Page” in the top bar, select “Text size” or “Text zoom” and choose the size you need.
  • If you're using Netscape, Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 4, 5 and 6, go to "View" in the top bar, select "Text Zoom" or "Text size" and choose the size you need.
  • In Safari go to "View" in the top bar of the browser, then choose "Make text bigger" or "Make text smaller" in the dropdown menu.

Using your own style sheets

You can apply your own style sheet 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 Netscape: Select Edit, then Preferences and then Appearance. You will be given the choice to specify your own colours and fonts.

If you're using another browser not mentioned above, please check its "Help" facility to find out how to carry out similar actions.

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Using Portable Document Files ("PDFs")

Sometimes you'll find items on the website that are provided in a "PDF" format. You'll need to have Adobe Reader® - Version 5 or above on your computer to read these documents. If you do not have Adobe Reader on your computer, you can get it free from the Adobe website at: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

To read PDF documents with a screen reader you can link to the Access Adobe website which provides useful tools and resources. Adobe also has a free online conversion tool for PDF documents.

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Alternative ways of accessing our services

If you find that you are unable to make use of any service that we provide, we will try to help you use the same, or a similar service, by an alternative method. We can offer facilities that may assist you in conducting business with us. These include:

  • Services for customers with visual impairments (Braille, large print, audio formats)
  • Services for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing (British Sign Language/English interpreters that can be provided for individual appointments)
  • Help with chip and pin cards (we can provide you with chip and signature cards)
  • Where possible, provide accessible premises and ATMs (cash machines)

If you feel that you will benefit from or require any of the services mentioned above, please do not hesitate to contact our Disability Awareness Team to tell us about your particular requirements. Based on these, we will endeavour to provide the materials you need to access our services.

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Northern Rock Disability Awareness Team contact details

Telephone: 0191 279 5300*
Text phone: 0191 279 8505
E-mail: disability.awareness@northernrock.co.uk
Fax: 0191 279 6988

Postal address:

Disability Awareness Team
Premises Department
Northern Rock plc
Northern Rock House
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 4PL

*Calls are charged at your service provider's prevailing rate and may be monitored and recorded.

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Further technical help using our site

If you are experiencing any other difficulties or require technical help accessing the secure areas of our site, you can also refer to our technical help section. Or you can email our technical help team.

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© Northern Rock plc. 2008