Website Accessibility Statement

Using this website

This website is run by Newcastle City Council, this accessibility statement applies to newcastle.gov.uk. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, that means you should be able to (using ReciteMe tool by pressing 'Listen and Translate' in the top right corner of all pages:

• 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
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader
• access dyslexia software tool
• translate to over 100 languages

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.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Newcastle City 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 (WCAG) version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible an PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille let us know by emailing corporatecommunications@newcastle.gov.uk or calling the Communications Support Team on 0191 211 5094. We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 3 working days.

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations (that are not listed below), please let us know by emailing corporatecommunications@newcastle.gov.uk

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

You can find all our contact details at www.newcastle.gov.uk/contact-us

Non accessible content

How accessible is this website?

We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:

• the text won’t reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
• you can’t modify the line height or spacing of text
• some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
• video streams don’t have captions
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the maps embedded in pages

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

• There are a number of images with no Alt Attribute. These will be fixed within 3 months. [It’s important all images have the attribute for alternative text regardless of whether an alternative text is added. A screen reader knows how to handle both an empty alt attribute and one with a text. If there is no attribute some screen readers will compensate and read the path to the image instead, which will often give no value to the end user.]
• HTML5 or WAI-ARIA landmarks are used on the page, but not all content is included. These will be fixed within 12 months.
• The ID used for an element on the page is also used for another element on the page. These will be fixed within 12 months. [IDs must be unique.]
• The italics-tag 'i' is used to highlight text. These will be fixed within 12 months. [If the text should be emphasized semantically, use the 'emphasize' tag instead. If the text is a heading, an H-tag (such as H1, H2, H3...) should be used instead. If the text is highlighted as a visual effect, CSS should be used to do this.}
• No top-level heading on the page. These will be fixed within 12 months.  [A top-level heading helps user agents such as screen readers and search engines to know the main topic of a page.]
• Content not included in landmarks. These will be fixed within 12 months.  [HTML5 or WAI-ARIA landmarks are used on the page, but not all content is included. When using HTML5 or WAI-ARIA landmarks it is best practice to include all content on the page in landmarks. In this way users of assistive technologies can use the landmarks for navigating the page without losing track of content.]
• Link identified only by colour. These will be fixed within 12 months.  [Make sure there are other visual indicators of links besides the colour, such as underline or bold.]
• Device orientation. It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (orientation).

Issues identified on 20 September 2020 using SiteImprove - these issues will be resolved within 3 months (unless disproportionate burden applies):

Conformance level	Severity level	Success Criteria	Description	Pages	Responsibility	Completion	Progress
A	Errors	1.3.1	HTML is used to format content	104	Webmaster	94.70%	-6.1%
A	Errors	1.3.1	Element ID is not unique	35	Webmaster	98.20%	2.80%
A	Errors	4.1.1	Element ID is not unique	35	Webmaster	98.20%	2.80%
A	Errors	1.3.1	"Bold" tag used to format text	23	Webmaster	98.80%	-187.5%
A	Errors	1.1.1	Image with no alt attribute	13	Webmaster	99.30%	-0%
A	Errors	1.3.1	"Font" tag used to format text	6	Webmaster	99.70%	-20.0%
A	Errors	1.3.1	"s" or "strike" tags used to format text	3	Webmaster	99.80%	-0%
A	Errors	1.1.1	Adjacent links used for same destination	1	Webmaster	>99.9%	-0%
A	Errors	1.3.1	WAI-ARIA group is missing a name	1	Webmaster	>99.9%	-0%
A	Errors	3.3.2	WAI-ARIA group is missing a name	1	Webmaster	>99.9%	-0%
A	Warnings	1.3.1	Non-distinguishable landmarks	457	Webmaster	76.50%	0.40%
A	Warnings	4.1.2	Redundant WAI-ARIA attribute	446	Webmaster	77.10%	-9.6%
A	Warnings	1.3.1	"i" tag used to format text	148	Webmaster	92.40%	-7.2%
A	Warnings	1.3.1	Content not included in landmarks	95	Webmaster	95.10%	-2.2%
A	Reviews	1.3.1	Are landmarks appropriately applied?	870	Webmaster	55.30%	-7.9%
A	Reviews	2.2.1	Provide enough time	870	Webmaster	55.30%	-8.1%
A	Reviews	1.3.1	Could a standard landmark be used?	854	Webmaster	56.10%	-8.0%
A	Reviews	1.3.1	Does the "aria-labelledby" attribute accurately describe the landmark?	502	Webmaster	74.20%	-6.6%
A	Reviews	1.3.1	Can options logically be grouped together?	67	Webmaster	96.60%	-6.3%

Issues resolved since last review (23 September 2019):

Issue

WAI-ARIA image is missing alternative text

"Small" tag used to alter text size

Missing button in form

Form control label is missing text

"Aria-labelledby" has incorrect (ID) reference

Webpage title is missing text

Invalid WAI-ARIA role, state or property

Reference to non-existent image map

"Marquee" tag is used

"Aria-labelledby" has incorrect (ID) reference

Text area has no description

Page element has no description

Use of automatic redirect after a time delay

Generic landmarks are not named

"Aria-labelledby" has incorrect (ID) reference

"Aria-describedby" has incorrect (ID) reference

Text area has no description

Alternative text for image is identical to link text

Missing required WAI-ARIA states or properties

Form control label is missing text

"Aria-labelledby" has incorrect (ID) reference

Cell references non-existent table heading ID

Page element has no description

Frame is missing a description

"Aria-describedby" has incorrect (ID) reference

Access key is not unique

Webpage has multiple title elements or no title element

Image map without reference

Text area has no description

"Big" tag used to alter text size

Field label is not visible

"spacer" tag used to format content

"Aria-labelledby" has incorrect (ID) reference

Provide a button for 'select box'

"Center" tag used to format content

"Area" element is missing alternative text

Image button has no description

Use of automatic refresh after a time delay

"u" tag used to format text

"Longdesc" attribute does not link to existing resource

"Area" element is missing alternative text

Form control label is missing text

Language declaration is invalid

Navigational link not located in document "head"

Navigational link not located in document "head"

Re-direct occurs in browser

Page element has no description

Use of automatic redirect after a time delay

"Area" element is missing alternative text

Use of automatic redirect after a time delay

No option to skip repeated content

Image marked as decorative but has "aria-describedby" attribute

Image alternatives don't match

Aria-atomic="true" missing on error container

WAI-ARIA alert is present when page loads

"tt" tag used to format text

Redundant WAI-ARIA labels

Landmarks with identical names

WAI-ARIA alert is present when page loads

Government Digital Service Review

In June 2020 Government Digital Service (part of Cabinet Office) carried out an independent review of https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/  They checked how accessible the website is against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard. There is a dedicated page outlining the findings and outcome of the review.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

 

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

PDFs and other documents

Some of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re easy to read on a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2.

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 don’t 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

Live video streams don’t have captions. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).

We don’t plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 21 September 2020. The test was carried out by Newcastle City Council using SiteImprove software. We also worked with partners who ran and number of accessibility tests (in August 2019) on our site to test our compliance with WCAG criteria and navigability.

We tested our main website platform www.newcastle.gov.uk

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We carry out monthly accessibility check using software, if issues are identified we either fix them straight away, or if the issue requires resource or financial investment put plans in place to resolve. For issues we can’t resolve easily – we publish details in this accessibility statement under Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

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).

When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

 

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2019. It was last updated on 24 December 2020.