Accessibility Policy

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This accessibility statement applies to https://besford-deffordparishcouncil.co.uk . This website is run by besford-defford Parish 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)

To assist with website accessibility, besford-defford Parish Council has installed the UserWay Accessibility Widget.

Located at the bottom left of the website, this widget offers a broad selection of functions that users can mix and match to meet their individual accessibility needs. Each of the functions can be turned on or off or set at an interim value. Furthermore, settings for each user are automatically saved (via a cookie) for future site visits. The functions include, but are not limited to:

  • Keyboard Navigation: Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.
  • Read Page: Listen to most of the website.
  • Contrast: Change contrast levels. Choose from the following: normal contrast, invert colours, dark contrast, light contrast and desaturate.
  • Highlight Links
  • Bigger Text: Choose from four increasing font sizes without the text spilling off the screen.
  • Text Spacing: Modify line spacing for improved readability for dyslexic and visually impaired users.
  • Stop Animations
  • Legible Fonts
  • Reading Guide: Converts the cursor into a high contrast horizontal reading guide. Focuses and guides the eyes to reduce eye strain for users who are visually impaired, dyslexic and users with Presbyopia.
  • Tooltips: Shows alternative text and aria labels for on-screen elements with a simple mouse hover. Tooltips are prominent, high contrast and easy to read for low vision users with accessibility needs.

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:

  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

Feedback and contact information

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format:

email clerk@besford-deffordparishcouncil.co.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 15 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, contact:

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Find out how to contact us: https://besford-deffordparishcouncil.co.uk

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

besford-defford Parish 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.

  • Older PDF files such as Meeting Minutes and Agendas published before 23rd September 2018.
  • Scanned documents such as Conclusion of Audit or documents that may include a signature.
  • Videos
  • Content produced by third parties or using third party software.

Third party software includes but is not limited to:

  • Google Maps
    The Google Maps that are embedded on a number of pages throughout the website are not accessible for screen readers.  The pages on which these maps appear include the Contact page. The maps do not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). However, to reduce the impact of these maps being inaccessible to some readers, we have provided a written address for each event venue location on the individual event pages.
  • Google reCAPTCHA
    The reCAPTCHA anti-spam software used for the online forms on the Contact page does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels). Users who are unable to use these online forms are encouraged to contact the Parish Clerk, clerk@besford-deffordparishcouncil.co.uk outlining the subject-matter of their query, and the Clerk can forward their query on to the appropriate person.

Disproportionate Burden

Nothing is cited as being a disproportionate burden

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).
  • WCAG 2.0 success criterion 2.4.5 Multiple Ways
  • WCAG 2.0 success criterion 2.4.8 Location

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. For example, we do not plan to fix documents such as agendas, minutes and financial documents prior to 2018.

The Council are required, by law, to upload a number of documents that have been approved and signed (the end of year audit for example), this is done by scanning the document and uploading as a PDF filetype. The very nature of a scanned document is not accessible and often OCR conversion of the document is not perfect. This will be reviewed, likely in 2025 to see if technology or regulations have changed.

Any new PDFs or Word documents the Council publish will aim to meet accessibility standards, unless these documents are in a format which cannot be made accessible easily. If you are unable to access any document on this website due to its format, please contact the Clerk via the methods mentioned above.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will be running regular accessibility checks and ensure that new content added to the website meets accessibility requirements where possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 19th November 2020.

This website was last tested on 19th November 2020. The test was carried out via besford-defford Parish Council (self-evaluation) on representative pages following the Government accessibility checklist and using the Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool.

We focused on the most popular website pages to test, including the homepage and the meetings documents page.

Contact the Clerk