Accessibility Statement for Hertsmere.gov.uk

This accessibility statement applies to www.Hertsmere.gov.uk  

We work to make this website as accessible as possible to everyone, including those with disabilities and those who use assistive technologies to browse the web.

This website is run by Hertsmere 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
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader

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
  • some PDF documents that are hosted on our sub-domains, which are produced by third party organisations, may not be fully accessible
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • some headings may not follow a hierarchical order
  • Google maps

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:

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 not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: webteam@hertsmere.gov.uk or Customer Services by calling 020 8207 2277.

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

We provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact us Contact us - Hertsmere Borough Council

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Hertsmere 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  1. Some pages require zooming and 2D scrolling on small screens. An example is List of Services - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10. We plan to try and fix this by September 2023.
  2. Some pages components are not identified consistently. An example is List of Services - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.4. We plan to try and fix this by September 2023.
  3. Some pages navigation is not consistent. An example is Help - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG 3.2.3 success criterion. We plan to try and fix this by September 2023
  4. Some pages headings and labels are not descriptive. An example is Other Services - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.6. We plan to fix this by September 2023.
  5. Some pages do not have multiple ways to access a page. An example is List of Services - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG 2.4.5 success criterion. We plan to try and fix this by September 2023.
  6. Some pages need to be checked if an error prevention mechanism is required (for legal, financial, data). An example is Starting a business - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG success criterion 3.3.4. We plan to try and fix this by September 2023.
  7. Some pages need to use text to convey information where possible. An example is List of Services - Hertsmere Borough Council. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.5. We plan to try and fix this by September 2023.

Disproportionate burden

We have a large number of documents on hertsmere.gov.uk , some of which are not well used (often in cases where we're obliged to publish a document but there's little user need for it). With limited resource to check all documents for issues, we decided to review and fix the most popular 250 documents.

That leaves approximately 2,500 documents published on hertsmere.gov.uk since 23 September 2018. Whilst it's difficult to assess how long each document would take to review and fix, if we spent an hour fixing each document, it would take over 345 working days to fix them all.

We don't believe the time, effort and resource to fix all the documents is justified. As such, we've assessed that it would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

We believe that:

  • the majority of this effort would be of little to no benefit to users due to the low usage
  • with finite resource, fixing the remaining in -scope documents would take resource away from core web activity, essential to managing hertsmere.gov.uk
  • maintaining statutory and essential frontline services should be prioritised over paying for over 345 days’ work to fix documents which aren’t well used
  • users will benefit most from us focusing available resources on fixing the most used documents on hertsmere.gov.uk , ensuring that new documents are accessible where they're required for essential services or are likely to be popularly used by people with disabilities.

We are training document authors around the council to produce accessible documents from the outset.

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.

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.

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.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We work with services and suppliers to meet and maintain WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. 

We have a large web presence, and limited resources, so we prioritise activity to fix the well-used sections using Silktide.

Testing

We use both automated and manual testing to identify and assess problems.

Fixing our online services

Many services are accessed through online forms and systems. Again, we focus on fixing the most popular transactional forms on the website.

Keeping things accessible

We regularly re-test the website to ensure it remains fully accessible throughout future developments

Changing colours, font, text size and other settings

All modern browsers allow you to change colours and font sizes. We've tried to create a site which doesn't get in the way when you change these settings.

For advice on changing settings, check out the BBC’s accessibility pages.

You can choose your operating system (for example, Windows), your browser (such as Internet Explorer) and the problem you're trying to fix. You'll then get lots of relevant advice on accessibility settings.

Screen readers

A screen reader is a program which reads out the information displayed on your computer to you. Screen readers can be useful to enable blind and partially-sighted people to browse the internet and carry out other tasks using their device.

There are a variety of screen readers available. Assistive technology: definition and safe use.

Plain English

We try to write in plain English and avoid jargon. If you don’t understand something, let us know at webteam@hertsmere.gov.uk.

Language translations

Translate this site into 90 different languages using Google Translate (external link).

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 16 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 6 September 2022.

This website was last tested on 29 July 2022 for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. The test was carried out by the Central Digital and Data Office. They tested pages using a combination of automated accessibility tools and manual tests.

Following this test we have worked with our website provider to make accessibility improvements to our website and also done our own testing using software called Silktide. This software regularly tests the pages on our website.

We will review our accessibility statement annually.