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Full Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement for Sholden Parish Council

This website is run by Sholden Parish Council developed and provided by Aubergine.

The statements and information below are made in good faith and we accept that accessibility is a continuing work in progress and there might be areas that will require further work.

We are not responsible for making external content accessible which has been provided to us by a third party.

We are making our best efforts to ensure as many people as possible can use this website. For example, that means you can:

  • change colours and contrast levels to suit your needs but you may need to use a plug

in such as mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • the text will reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard but this could be improved
  • listen to most of the website using text to speech and working towards improved navigation
  • all relevant images have alternative text or captions
  • modify the line height or spacing of text but may need to use a plug in for example reader view available for chrome

We are also in the process of making the website text as simple as possible to understand and we are working towards screen reader navigation. Any links to external websites will open in another window.

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:

  • there is no skip link to the main body text of a page once you have navigated to a page.
  • you cannot navigate parts of the website using speech recognition software.
  • some photos do not have alternative text or captions.
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.
  • the contrast when navigating using just a keyboard could be improved if you need to

improve focus for keyboard users you may need to use a plugin.

  • when at high magnification only the top menu is accessible by keyboard, the submenu cannot be accessed without a mouse.

If you are having trouble, please request an alternative version of information you cannot access and we will try and help you anyway we can.

There are plugins that may help you for example – mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/

AbilityNet

chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/reader-view

chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mercury-reader

Reader for FireFox

HighContrast for Chrome or

NoSquint for FireFox

Spreed for Google Chrome

Mac/iOS VoiceOver

Android TalkBack

NVDA for Windows

robobraille.org

Issues

We know we have some problems on the following pages:

  • Policies and Procedures.
  • Minutes/Agendas.
  • Financial Records – are currently non accessible.

We have a roadmap which shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website but have listed some key information below.

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format we can quickly provide the following accessible PDF and large print. Other formats may take substantially longer. Please contact us at:

  • email – [email protected] (The Parish Clerk)
  • call – 07464 550069 for the Parish Clerk

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

 

  • If you need information on any financial records please contact the Parish Clerk (see above),

 

We are working on our accessibility issues and will continue to work with our website provider Aubergine get an up to date assessment of where we are in three months

 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the Parish Clerk. The matter will be investigated.

Please note some problems can only be resolved by the website provider Aubergine and may take longer.

Please try using a service such as robobraille.org to assist with any issues.

 

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 enquiry/complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Visiting us

Please contact the Parish Clerk to arrange a meeting.

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Sholden Parish Council is committed to having an accessible website 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 partially non-accessible for the following reasons. Archive material is exempt from the regulations.

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We hope to correct this soon. From 23 September 2020, when we publish new content we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Navigation and accessing information/Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

With apologies some PDFs and other documents might not yet be fully accessible.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing information and our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on Policies and Procedures, how apply for a grant. We hope to have fixed these.

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 minutes, reports or agendas.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet, as fully as possible at this time, accessibility standards.

The exemptions

Following the government guidance and legislation, websites and ‘active admin content’ need to be accessible by Sept 23rd, 2019 UNLESS

  • Older documents (pre-Sept 2018) that are not in active admin use are exempt forever.
  • Disproportionate burden can be used to explain non-compliance but this needs to be audited, costed and justified. Lack of time due to lack of priority is not considered a reason.

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. These are exempt as they were prior to the September 2019 implementation date.

How we tested this website

Aubergine have tested the site for compliance and will continue to test periodically. This website was last tested on ?? The test was carried out by Aubergine.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

All our Agendas, minutes and reports are mostly accessible by March 2020, but some financial information is complicated.

All photographs/images have alternative text or captions.

We are working on our forms to ensure they are accessible and will have this completed by 23 September 2020.

The Parish Clerk has and is working closely with Aubergine.

This statement was prepared on Tuesday 22 September 2020.

It was last updated on Tuesday 3 December 2020.

 

Kevin Lynch,

Clerk, Sholden Parish Council