Accessibility

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Accessibility statement for westberks.gov.uk

Updated 08/04/2024

This accessibility statement applies to westberks.gov.uk.

This website is run by West Berkshire Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
(using an assistive technology application of your choice, such as JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
Zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
(using an assistive technology application of your choice, such as JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
Listen to most of the website using a screen reader
(including the most recent version of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver, as well as in built browser solutions)

We've also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. These are listed below and you can see a more detailed list of these issues in the non-accessible section of this statement.

Some of our older PDF and Word documents are not fully accessible.
Some of our pages use YouTube videos which are not fully accessible.
Our website links to some pages on the website info.westberks.gov.uk, which is using older technology and is currently being replaced on our primary website.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio or braille:

Contact Customer Services

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 10 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, please email the Digital Services Team.

Enforcement Procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

West Berkshire Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word Documents don't meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they're accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1.

Videos

Some of the videos on our website are produced by other organisations and embedded from YouTube or another video hosting platform. These videos may not have BSL, audio descriptions, captions, or transcripts. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2 and as such will not meet the accessibility requirements. In these cases, we will ensure the information in the video is also displayed textually on the page.

All videos produced by West Berkshire Council do have subtitles applied and are shared and available on our YouTube Channel.

Accessibility of our other websites and services

We use some third party online services and websites to allow customers to interact with us. These include (but are not limited to) library catalogue, booking an event, applying for planning permission, paying for something and viewing committee information.

Not all these sites and online services meet the necessary standards for accessibility, and where they do not we engage with our suppliers to rectify this.

When procuring new online systems, meeting accessibility standards are included in the specification, and we continue to work with suppliers to ensure sites continue to meet these standards.

Disproportionate burden

Webpages and forms on legacy technology

Over time West Berkshire Councils website has moved from one technology platform version to another. Working closely and directly with our key partner and supplier Goss Interactive, our sites technology has moved forward with every new release of their CMS platform.

However, some of the legacy technology is still in use. This is specifically on the website address info.westberks.gov.uk.

This area of our website is a specific area for more detailed information, and while regularly updated over the last few years is now going through an internal 'Review and Renew' project where all these pages are being audited and recreated to be placed on our primary website westberks.gov.uk. As a result the content published on info.westberks.gov.uk is being removed as a result and the site will be switched off by June 2022.

Where there are some minor accessibility issues with the info.westberks.gov.uk website pages, it would be more time effective to continue to replace these pages as part of our current project.

In addition, some of our online forms have a minor accessibility issues in that the technology we use to deliver our services adds a technical function to all radio button options that are not required. This will be addressed and updated when we move to an upgraded version of our website software. This specific issue will be rectified as a result of an upgrade to our digital platform by April 2022.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word Documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.

We understand that the regulations Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 - Part 4, if they're not essential to providing our services. However, if you need information in an alternative format, email Customer Services.

Any new PDFs or Word Documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

Our efforts to ensure full accessibility is ongoing, and as we move our websites to newer technology, any specific technical accessibility issues are resolved.

We continue to work with suppliers to resolve any identified accessibility issues where we do not have direct control over their product.

We are also undertaking a full review of accessibility on our website to identify other issues that may need to be resolved.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 11/01/2022. It was last reviewed on 08/04/2024.

This website was last tested externally during December 2021 by the Shaw Trust.

This website is regularly tested internally using multiple browsers/devices and Axe Dev Tools.