Accessibility statement for Halton Borough Council
This accessibility statement applies to Halton Borough Council main website (halton.gov.uk) and microsites.
This website is run by Halton Borough 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.
If you would like to view this website in another language we recommend using Google Translate.
How accessible this website is
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- Some headings may be nested in the wrong order. For example heading 2 may appear after a heading 3. This issue will be tackled as an ongoing process.
- On some of our microsites the colour contrast may have issues. This issue will be tackled as an ongoing process.
- Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard. This issue will be tackled as an ongoing process.
- Some of our procured external systems may have issues that we cannot control. These will be reviewed when contracts are renewed or upgrades are carried out.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website/Feedback and contact information
If you have any problems using the website, feedback will give us guidance so we can make it better. If you experience any trouble accessing services or information on this site, please contact us.
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).
Halton Borough 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 and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
- Some headings may be nested in the wrong order. For example heading 2 may appear after a heading 3. This issue will be tackled as an ongoing process.
WCAG 2.1 technique G141
- On some of our microsites the colour contrast may have issues. This issue will be tackled as an ongoing process.
WCAG understanding contrast minimum
- Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard. This issue will be tackled as an ongoing process.
WCAG understanding keyboard
- Some of our procured external systems may have issues that we cannot control. These will be reviewed when contracts are renewed or upgrades are carried out.
- There are issues with our cookie and advert consent pop up. Our third party supplier, Council Advertising Network have provided an
update
Disproportionate burden
There are certain issues with microsoft sharepoint which is the software used to build and manage the website:
Given that this errors refer to default behaviour from microsoft sharepoint that cannot be changed, the only solution would be for the organisation to purchase a new content management system which would represent a
disproportionate burden on the organisation in terms of cost. This decision will be reviewed when the time comes to upgrade the current content management system and when accessibility checks are carried out by the web team.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.
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 don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
For any new PDFs we have limited the use of images and graphics particularly our strategies and policies to comply with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 01 September 2018. It was last reviewed on 04 August 2024.
This website was last tested on 31 July 2024. The test was carried out by HBC web Team. We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test:
- A random sample of 10% of all the pages every 6 months
- The report for these sites is
available. Most errors identified are from the Consent Tool and sharepoint default behaviour.
The tools we used are those that are available as "free" from https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools and the check list provided by Gov.uk: https://alphagov.github.io/wcag-primer/checklist.html#checklist.
The Cabinet Office also carried out a sample audit on the 7 July 2021. The report is
available