This accessibility statement covers the www.north-herts.gov.uk website and sub-sites run by North Herts 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)
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
- you cannot skip to the main content on some forms when using a screen reader
- some of our forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text on some of forms
- live video streams do not have captions
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
- email us using our General Enquiries form
- call 01462 474000
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in ten 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 Communications team using the General Enquiries form.
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
The Customer Service Centre is fitted with hearing induction loops so that customers can use the T-setting on their hearing aid to enhance sound. If required, we can arrange for a British Sign Language interpreter to assist customers, as long as they let us know in advance.
Customers can contact the Council by text phone on 01462 474800. For customers who have difficulty reading, our information and documents can be made available upon request in:
- Large Print
- Braille
- Audio tape or CD
If English is not your first language, we can provide interpreters at interviews or over the phone to assist you. We may also be able to assist you with translations of documents and publications.
Find out how to contact us for more information.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
North Hertfordshire District 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.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Some mandatory fields in our forms may not be clearly indicated as such. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content) and 3.3.2 (labels or instructions). We plan to add mandatory field indicators to all online forms by September 2022. When we publish new forms all mandatory fields will be indicated as such.
Some forms may not correctly inform you where an error has occurred, or provide a list of errors. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 (error identification) and 3.3.3 (error suggestion). We plan to update our forms to include error identifications and we will work towards including error suggestion lists in 2021. When we publish new forms we’ll make sure they include both error identification and suggestions.
Some headings and sub-headings on certain pages may not be correctly structured. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We plan to update all pages and forms to ensure headings are correctly structured by September 2022.
Some HTML markup errors may impact users with assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 (parsing). We plan to fix these errors as part of a site redesign in late 2021.
Disproportionate burden
Navigation and accessing information
Links to PDFs and other non-HTML documents do not include file type and size within the link 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.
Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.
We’ve 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. We plan to fix these issues as part of a site redesign in 2021.
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 how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. 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 from past council meetings.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 1 October 2021.
This website was last tested on 16 September 2019. The test was carried out by Shaw Trust Accessibility Services.
You can read the full accessibility test report below.
Attachments