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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to www.cotswold.gov.uk.

This website is run by Cotswold District 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
  • zoom in up to 300% 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
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

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

We have an audio induction loop at the reception desk and in the Council Chambers.

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, contact us. 

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

Cotswold District 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 version 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

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

We are in the process of rebuilding our old forms with a new forms provider. New forms will replace the current inaccessible ones.

WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast

Not enough difference between background and foreground colours.

WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow

There are several reflow issues. In some cases there are certain elements blocking complete reflow such as a header, YouTube video and Facebook feed. In other cases the page minimises rather than reflows. There are also a couple of issues where menus cannot be used effectively via keyboard in mobile view.

WCAG 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap

Facebook and Twitter feeds on the news microsite don't allow users to untrap the focus.

WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible

For the standard layout this is an issue in the footer of the page where focus gets lost on the ‘online chat’ functionalities. It is also an issue across other pages where focus is difficult to see on links, certain coloured backgrounds, menus and buttons.

WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes must conform to valid values, which is not the case for the general enquiry form.

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards, for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

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 plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

How we tested this website

This statement was prepared on 24 January 2020. It was last reviewed and updated on 23 August 2023.

This website was last tested by us on 22 August 2023. The test was carried out by Cotswold District Council using Silktide. A test is scheduled for August 2024 where this statement will be updated on findings/issues addressed.

We tested our main website platform, www.cotswold.gov.uk.

We used this approach to decide on a sample of pages to test:

  • including the different elements of the website, for example, panels, accordions, videos and table
  • including each type of page template, content, landing page, homepage, news

 

© Cotswold District Council 2023