Accessibility information

Ways our website is accessible

This accessibility statement applies to aylesburytowncouncil.gov.uk. 

This website is run by Aylesbury Town 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 using browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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 older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software 

• live video streams do not have captions 

• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader 

• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page 

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

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

• E-mail: [email protected]
• Call: 01296 425678
• Postal address: Town Hall, 5 Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP

We will consider you request and get back to you in 7 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our “Contact Us” page, call or email us for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve accessibility of the website.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact Adil Iftakhar, Deputy Town Clerk via email [email protected] or call 01296 425678. 

Complaints process

If you have reported a problem with our website or asked for an alternative format, but you are not happy with our response, you can use our complaints process to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our processes. 

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).

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology

The Aylesbury Town Council website is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

• Mobile Phones
• PC and Mac Computers
• All tablet devices
• All known Browsers
• Screen Readers

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Aylesbury Town 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

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) [2.1 or 2.2] AA standard. 

This website is partially compliant with the [Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard], due to the non-compliances listed below. 

Accessibility of the Council’s website relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used and we cannot guarantee that the site will work fully on older versions of assistive technology.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Insufficient alt text

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by July 2025. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards. 

Maps displayed by Google Maps – we don’t control how Google Maps displays information, but where possible we provide addresses within the web page’s text (via HTML). When Google makes their map output accessible, we will update our technology accordingly. 

Pictures of event or information posters, when provided by a third party - where possible we provide the information from the picture, within the web page’s text (via HTML). We will encourage all providers of these pictures to provide accessible alternatives in future. 

Accessible versions of Aylesbury Town Matters magazine are not available prior to September 2024 (Issue 72). From Issue 72 onwards, a text only version will be available. If you require a text only version of previous issues, please contact [email protected] or call 01296 425678. 

Branded text such as logos, slogans or other marketing messages, may not be included in the alt-text if they are not relevant to what the image is conveying.

Images that do not contain sufficiently descriptive alt-text are not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.1.1, and WCAG guideline 1.3.3.

We will correct insufficient alt-text when we publish new content, we will make sure our use of images meets the accessibility standards.

Image sliders

You cannot use the ‘previous slide’ and ‘next slide’ controls on our image sliders using a keyboard, or pause automatic image scrolling. This is not compliant with WCAG guideline 2.2.2. 

PDF documents

Some older PDF documents may not be compliant.

Some externally supplied, interactive PDFs may not be fully compliant. We have no control over these documents. e.g., Ofsted inspection reports.

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. 

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information

There is no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example a “skip to main content” option).

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

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

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 when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in 2026.

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 have assessed the cost of fixing this issue with navigation and accessing information and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be disproportionate burden within the meaning of accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment in a year. 

Content 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. As each Council Services page is reviewed, 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 are not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix our Aylesbury Town Matters magazine issues or any agendas and minutes published prior to the above date or any historic documents. 

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

Videos

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. 

What are we doing to improve accessibility

We have changed the font to make it bigger and easier to read.

We will provide staff training to ensure that all new content added meets accessibility criteria. 

This statement was prepared on 30 September 2024. 

It was last updated in October 2024. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 30/09/2024. It was last reviewed 12/10/2024. This website was last tested on 02/10/2024 against the WCAG [2.1 or 2.2] AA standard. 

The test was carried out by Aubergine. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. 

You can read the full accessibility test report Accessibility | Aylesbury Town Council.