Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement for www.gosforthpc.org.uk

This accessibility statement applies to www.gosforthpc.org.uk.

This website is run by Gosforth 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:

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate some 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.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some photographs do not have captions
  • you cannot use screen reader software on the google map
  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF or large print:

  • email gosforth.parish2@outlook.com
  • call 01229 717551

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within seven 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: the Clerk – email Gosforth.parish2@outlook.com or telephone 01229 717551.

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

Gosforth 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.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility 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 plan to add text alternatives for all images by November 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.

It’s not possible to use screen reader software with the map.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment each year and when the website design is updated.

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on meetings, such as minutes and financial reports. By November 2020, 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. For example, we do not plan to fix minutes and financial reports published before July 2020.

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 31st July 2020.

This website was last tested on 15th July 2020. The test was carried out by our Clerk, Jacqueline Williams.

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

Starting at the home page, test resizing by zooming in, test screen reader response, test navigation using the keyboard only. Test various news pages in the same way. Test images on Councillor and Gallery pages. Test documents for accessibility and screen reader. Test all on laptop and mobile phone. Check all for readability and design.

  • Home Page – resizing, screen reader, navigation by keyboard
  • News Page – resizing, screen reader, navigation by keyboard
  • Councillors Page – checked images, screen reader, navigation by keyboard
  • Galleries – checked images, screen reader, navigation by keyboard
  • Documents – checked screen reader on .pdfs