10 June 2010,
Groupama Insurances achieves Shaw Trust accreditation
Website wins accessibility seal of approval
Groupama Insurances has been awarded Shaw Trust Web Accessibility accreditation for its website, www.groupama.co.uk.
Shaw Trust is one of the UK's most comprehensive website accessibility accreditation services. A national charity, it supports disabled and disadvantaged people to prepare for work, find jobs and live more independent lives. It is also the only web accessibility accreditation organisation to employ its own testing teams on a full time basis.
Jamie Marchant, Marketing and Communications Director at Groupama Insurances said: "We are currently the only insurer to hold Shaw Trust Accreditation and we see this as a significant step forward for our website. It has involved a great deal of work, some substantial enhancements and a good deal of testing. However, we recognise that our site is accessed by people with differing abilities and we have always been keen to ensure that all web users can visit and use our sites easily and effectively. All the hard work has been well worth it and we are very proud of this achievement."
The process of achieving accreditation involved rigorous testing by people with varying disabilities and also a range of tests using a variety of hardware and software designed to facilitate the use of computers by disabled users. Only after all suggestions for improvement were adopted was the accreditation granted.
Cam Nicholls, Sales and Service Development Manager of Web Accessibility
Services at Shaw Trust says, "Achieving Shaw Trust accreditation shows a clear
determination to achieve the high standards we demand and we are delighted to
grant the accreditation. Groupama's commitment to making its website accessible
to people of varying disabilities has been apparent throughout the process of
editing and testing and we hope that this commitment continues in the future."
Jamie Marchant concludes; "Shaw Trust accreditation means that
www.groupama.co.uk meets a high level of
web accessibility but is just a start. Our aim is to make sure that all of our
sites are just as accessible."
Notes to editors
Groupama Insurances is one of the UK's leading general insurers. The UK group offers motor, home and health insurance and also provides insurance protection to a growing number of smaller UK businesses. The company employs almost 800 staff in 6 centres and is an accredited 'Investor in People' Gold Standard.
Award Winning
Groupama Insurances’ specialist UK subsidiary, Groupama Healthcare won the Best for Customer Service Award in the Health Insurance Awards 2009 and Best Group PMI Provider in the 2009 Cover Excellence Awards. Groupama’s Broker Trading Team won the Manchester CII Underwriting Initiative of the Year Award in 2008. Groupama Insurances was also winner of the ‘Claims Initiative of the Year’ Award in the 2007 British Insurance Awards.
Groupama is also a previous winner of the 'Underwriter of the Year' award in the British Insurance Awards and has twice been voted 'Underwriting Team of the Year' at the Insurance Day Awards.
For further press information please contact Alison Reeson, Louise Fowler, Margot Tomkinson or Tiffany Collins at HSL on 020 8977 9132 or at groupamateam@harrisonsadler.com
