As part of our commitment to accessibility we are required to publish where we know there are issues with our website.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

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 and PDFs. By the end of the year, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages or online forms.

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 example, we don’t currently plan to fix historic meeting minutes as we need to prioritise other areas.

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

Issues with images, video and audio

There are a small number of images on the website that don’t have alternative text. For some that do, the alternative text isn’t as relevant and helpful as it could be.

Not all of our video content has captions.

We plan to make sure that all images on the website have relevant and helpful alternative text. 

WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard

Users should be able to use a keyboard to access all content and functionality of a web page. This means the page can be used by people with no vision as well as people who use alternative keyboards or input devices that act as a keyboard.

WCAG 2.4.7 Focus visible

A visible focus helps users know which element has keyboard focus and where they are on the page. When an element gets focus there should be a visible border around it. Highlighting the element that has keyboard focus or is hovered over can provide information like whether the element is interactive or the scope of that element. Operating systems have a native indication of focus, which is available in many browsers. The default display of the focus indicator is not always highly visible and may even be difficult to see especially on coloured backgrounds.

WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

Poor colour contrast makes it difficult for someone with sight loss to see the content properly. If there is a big difference between the background and foreground colours it should be much easier to see the difference between them.

WCAG 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast - AA

Poor colour contrast makes it difficult for someone with sight loss to see the content properly. If there is a big difference between the background and foreground colours it should be much easier to see the difference between them.

Exemptions

There are some types of content that are exempt from accessibility regulations. All exemptions that relate to our website are listed here:

• Third-party content that is neither funded nor developed by, nor under the control of Rossendale Borough Council. E.g. content and services supplied by GOV.UK or NHS.UK.
• PDFs and documents published before 23 September 2018 which are not essential for providing a particular service or active administrative process. However, we are actively working towards reducing the number of inaccessible PDFs and replacing them with accessible alternatives.
• Pre-recorded time-based media (videos and audio recordings) is exempt from the regulations if it is published before 23 September 2020.

What we’re doing to fix accessibility issues

We have a plan in place and are working to fix these issues. We have limited resources but are putting a large proportion of our time into making our website compliant and as accessible as possible.

We are also working with all our staff who are responsible for writing content for the website, to train them in producing more accessible content and to improve all the content already up on the site that has issues.

Something missing?

If you believe that something is missing from this list, please contact us and be as specific and detailed as you can. Please also tell us if you had a good experience on our website.