Chelwood Parish Council Website Accessibility Statement

This website is run by Chelwood Parish Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. This 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 – go to https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. The text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of your browser window

you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

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

live video screens do not have captions

some of our online forms are difficult to navigate just the keyboard

you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader

there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our contact page

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website. If you need the information on this website in a different format, like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Email – chelwood.parish.council@gmail.com

Call – 01749 870358

We will consider your request and get back to you in a (number) days

If you cannot view the maps on our contacts page call or email us (add links to contacts details page) for directions

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: Alan Butcher, Parish Clerk - chelwood.parish.council@gmail.com; telephone 01749 870358.

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.

We are unable to provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment, contact should be made by email wherever possible.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility.

Chelwood 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.

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.

Navigation and accessing information

Interactive tools and transactions

PDF documents prior to September 2020

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

There are currently no images on the website

We plan to add text alternatives for all images when added. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information relating to previous documentation

There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks).

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (orientation).

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text).

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.

We have assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

Content that is 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).

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 previous minutes and non-current accounts information.

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

How we tested this website

This website was re-written and  published to replace the previous site and includes documentation tested for accessibility using the accessibility tool available in Microsoft 365.

This statement was prepared on 23rd September 2020 when it was last updated.