Accessibility Statement

This statement applies to
www.adur-worthing.gov.uk

This website is run by Adur & Worthing Councils. We want as many people as possible to be able to use it. For example, this means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
modify the line height or spacing of text
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.

For advice on making devices easier for people with a disability to use please see:

My Computer My Way - on the AbilityNet website

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website aren't fully accessible. For example:

some of our documents aren't fully accessible, including not being structured to work with screen readers
we still need to replace the captions on some of our YouTube videos
our mapping system does not work well on mobile devices

What to do if you can't access parts of this website

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

webmaster@adur-worthing.gov.uk

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

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren't listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us on:

webmaster@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Enforcement procedure

If you have made a complaint and you're not happy with our response contact the:

Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

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').

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Adur & Worthing Councils are committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the accessibility regulations.

Due to the non-compliance issues listed below this website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 AA standard.

Content that's not within the scope of the regulations

The content listed below is non-accessible as we are not required to:

make documents published before 23rd September 2018 accessible, unless they are essential to access a service

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations includes the following:

1. Issues with images

Some images don't yet have a text alternative (alt text): so the information in them isn't available to people using a screen reader.

This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

We are working to add alt text to all images as soon as possible. When we publish new content we'll make sure any images we use meet accessibility standards.

Some images contain text: so people with dyslexia or those using a screen reader will not be able to read the information.

This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text).

We plan to review where these images are used and reduce their use as much as possible. Where they remain we will ensure any text in the image is given in the alt text.

2. Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our PDFs and Word documents don't meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they're accessible to a screen reader.

This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

Some of our documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how people can access our services and forms published as Word documents.

We understand that the accessibility regulations don't require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23rd September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services. However, if you need information in an alternative format, please contact us on:

webmaster@adur-worthing.gov.uk

3. Issues with video files

Videos we have created and sited on YouTube since 23rd September 2018 may not have adequate captions. We are currently focusing our efforts on fixing the most widely used first and will fix the remaining ones as soon as possible.

4. Issues with forms

Some of our form fields do not have text labels defined.

This fails WCAG success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or instructions)

Some of our form fields do not use the 'autocomplete' attribute where it would be helpful to do so.

This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.5 (Identify input purpose)

We are working hard to fix issues with forms and will update this page as soon as possible.

Disproportionate burden

We believe that fixing accessibility problems with some content would be disproportionate. This mostly relates to large complex documents such as large detailed PDF maps. These documents may include planning policy mapping such as Local Plan maps and insert maps, development briefs and other similar documents.

How we tested this website

This website and a broad selection of files, was tested by AbilityNet.

They reported their findings to us on 23rd April 2021.

We also test the website by using automated software tools such as Silktide and Sitemorse. Tests within Silktide occur once every 5 days.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We are urgently working to fix any content which fails to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. We aim to resolve these issues by December 2024.