Website Accessibility Statement

We are committed to making our online resources as accessible as possible in order to achieve the widest possible audience.

This accessibility statement applies to this website (www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk). It also addresses some third-party sites which are accessed via this site, such as our online planning portal and online forms.

This website is run by Cannock Chase Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you will be able to:

  • display the text in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using device and/or browser settings
  • 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)

The website is designed to be used by all current browsers and devices. We try to make the content of the website as clear, concise and free of jargon as possible. 

How accessible is this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • most older PDF documents do not fully meet the latest accessibility requirements
  • live video streams do not have captions (live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations)
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • you may not be able to skip to the main content when using a screen reader

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille please contact the relevant department which will help where possible, or email us at infomanager@cannockchasedc.gov.uk 

We will contact you regarding your request within 5 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 Corporate Support by emailing the issue to infomanager@cannockchasedc.gov.uk

We will contact you regarding your issue within 5 working days.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Cannock Chase 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.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

PDFs

Many older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software. They may have issues such as no text alternatives for images, no officially defined language or use of tables. From September 2020 new documents will meet the accessibility standards.

Third-Party Websites

Some services such as the planning applications system are built and hosted through third-party software and are designed to look like our website. We are reviewing the content on our third-party websites. Planning documents are not currently compliant.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. 

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.

Disproportionate burden

The cost of fixing the issues with historical Councillors’ minutes and papers and the Planning portal would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

However:

  • With regard to Councillors' minutes and papers, all documents from the 1st February 2021 meet the required accessibility standards. In addition, historical documents such as minutes, agendas etc have always been created in a very basic manner and are therefore close to meeting accessibility standards. Also, any historic documentation may be requested by any member of the public in an accessible format.
  • With regard to the planning portal work is currently being undertaken to implement a new system which will take into account accessibility regulations. This is due for completion by the end of April 2021. In addition, copies of any documents may also be requested by any member of the public in an accessible format.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

[Note: in this subsection list accessibility problems that fall outside 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. By September 2020, 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’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix [example of non-essential document].

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. This mainly applies to our online Council / Committee meetings.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

This website is automatically tested every 7 days by Sitemorse Software. It checks the website according to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, gives us an accessibility score and reports on all the issues found. The web team regularly review and resolves the issues detected.

We will encourage web authors to publish website content on web pages (HTML) rather than in PDF format.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was initially prepared on 17 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 February 2021.

This website is tested every Wednesday evening. The test is carried out by Sitemorse.

We also use other accessibility tools such as Adobe Acrobat DC and the 'Wave web accessibility tool'.

Related Links

AbilityNet

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Finding information on our website

There are several ways of finding information on our site including:

  • Quick links straight into most popular pages from our 'mega-menu' and homepage links.
  • Powerful search-box feature
  • navigation on the left of content pages provides links to related pages
  • A to Z accessible from every page.
  • common activities such as reporting issues or booking, paying and applying for services - can be reached quickly through the mega-menu
  • a link to the homepage appears at the very top of every page
  • a breadcrumb trail shows where you are within the structure of our content pages
  • high profile events and news are highlighted on the homepage and on relevant pages.

Our site has been designed to work to a high standard in any of the most common screen resolutions and has been tested with different versions of the common web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome (this is not a complete list).

We would welcome any feedback that you may have regarding this page and our website as a whole. Please send any comments to infomanager@cannockchasedc.gov.uk .

Useful links

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Using your browser to resize text

If you find the text too small to read comfortably you can use your browser to resize it. To resize the text in your browser you may wish to try one of these techniques:

  • If you have a wheel mouse, try holding down the Control (Ctrl) key on your keyboard and moving the wheel on your mouse at the same time
  • you can use your keyboard by holding down the Control (Ctrl) key and pressing plus (+) or minus ( –) at the same time
  • if you need to reset the size of the text to normal, hold Control (Ctrl) key and press zero (0).

Most mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, use touch-screen ‘gestures’ such as ‘pinch and zoom’ to change the size of the page. Double-tapping the display may also have the same effect. The manual for your device will have details of all of the touch-screen ‘gestures’ that work on your device. If you do not have the manual you may be able find it online and download it. We recommend searching online using your device's make, model and the word ‘manual’.

 

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