Accessibility information

Ways our website is accessible

• Change colours, contrast levels and font sizes using the accessibility widget.
• Zoom in (Ctrl and +) up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen.
• Navigate the website using just a keyboard.
• Navigate the website using a screen reader
• Filter the pages by headings
• Website text font is as simple as possible to understand.
• Pictures even if for decorative purposes only have alternative texts.
• Links can be highlighted
• Dyslexia Font can be accessed using the accessibility widget.

AbilityNet has advice on making your devices easier to use if you have a disability.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible

• Some older PDF documents may not ne be fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Some screen readers may not be compatible with the website.
• You have to tab quite a lot of times before you can access some links
• Some of the text that is toggled does not work easily with some functions in the Accessibility Widget
• Some headline structures on some of our pages are not in order.
• There is 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 that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements please email us on [email protected] and mark your email for the Deputy Town Clerk and/or Marketing and Communications Officer or contact the office on 01296 425678 and ask to speak with the Deputy Town Clerk and/or Marketing and Communications Officer.

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.

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.

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:

Insufficient alt text

Some images contain text which cannot be read by assistive technology, such as screen readers.

Any relevant text is included in the image’s alt-text, which is visible to assistive technology.

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

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.

We do not plan to caption or sign language interpretation to promotional event videos published prior to 23 September 2020 as these are not essential for providing our services.

What are we doing to improve accessibility

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 16 September 2020 and will be reviewed on an annual basis.

This website was last tested automatically and manually in Spetember 2024. The manual tests were carried out by Council employees and reports were run using the WAVE Evaluation tool.

We used the WAVE Tool Evaluation to look at the overall website design and then concentrated on the layout of the pages which are essential to running our services. Changes were implemented to ensure the website is accessible.

The website is reviewed on a regular basis and any new accessibility issues identified will be rectified within one month of identification.