Accessibility Statement

Website Accessibility Statement

 We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website www.wotton-under-edge.com.  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

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

Parts of This Website That Are Not Fully Accessible

We are aware that some parts of this website are not fully accessible.

  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some documents are scanned images which cannot be read by a screen reader

What to Do If You Cannot Access Parts of This Website

If you need information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, contact us by:

Email: assistantclerk@wotton-under-edge.com

Tel: 01453 843210

We will consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions as follows:

Email: assistantclerk@wotton-under-edge.com

Tel: 01453 843210

Reporting Accessibility Problems with This Website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.  If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us via email to assistantclerk@wotton-under-edge.com

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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS).

Technical Information About This Website’s Accessibility

Wotton-under-Edge Town 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 and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

  • Some documents such as the Annual Governance Statement and Councillors’ Register of Interest Forms are not accessible as they have been scanned. (They have been published in this way because they are required to be published as a signed document)
  • Some documents may not be fully accessible, because are based on standard templates/documents provided, for example, by the District Council, such as the Community Infrastructure Levy Annual Report

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Our PDF documents do not comply with WCAG 2.1.  We are working to replace these and to ensure all future documents  published on the website are accessibility compliant.

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information.  We will work to add text alternatives for images as soon as possible.  We we publish new content we will ensure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some of our web pages and documents do not have adequate text colour contrast. We will work to improve the colour contrast as soon as possible. When we publish new content we will make sure  that the colour contrast meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate Burden

The Council does not claim a disproportionate burden. However, it is taking some time for us to make our website fully compliant with the Accessibility regulations. We aim for our website to be fully compliant by Summer 2021.

Navigation and accessing information

Some of our web pages contain documents which have no titles and the headings used are not properly structured. We will continue working through 2021 to add titles and correctly structured headings as soon as possible to aid navigation and meet accessibility standards.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Many of our older PDFs do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs of meeting Minutes and agendas, plus policy and procedure documents.  We plan to work through replacing these documents with accessible PDFs/Word documents throughout 2021. We have already replaced our Minutes and Agendas from September 2018 onwards with WCAG 2.1 compliant documents.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.  For example, we do not plan to fix old copies of meeting Minutes prior to 23rd September 2018.  Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will aim to meet accessibility standards.

How We Tested the Website

We employed a contractor to check our website for accessibility compliance.

What We Are Doing to Improve Accessibility

  • We are acting upon the information provided in the accessibility compliance report that we receive this from the contractor
  • We have started to update all required documents and will continue to do so throughout 2021
  • Any new documents are checked for accessibility before being added to the website
  • We are working to ensure all areas of our website are accessible.  For example by adding alternative text to all of our images, checking colour contrasts and how links work

Preparation of This Accessibility Statement

This statement was updated on 8th January 2021.

The website was last tested on 22nd October 2020. The test was carried out by Town and Parish Councils Websites.