skip to main content
  • A
  • A
  • A

Accessibility statement

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.

These websites should allow any user to:

  • modify the line height or spacing of text
  • zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page
  • navigate most of website using a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader

For information on how you can adjust your browser settings or use assistive technology to help you use our website, visit AbilityNet.

How accessible this website is

This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. However, we are constantly working to improve both our compliance and the experience of our users.

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

  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
  • Live video streams do not have captions;

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 email equalities@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

We'll consider your request and get back to you within 20 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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: webcontent@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS).

Technical Information about this website’s accessibility

Buckinghamshire 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 not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the following issues:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Voice-recognition issues

Voice-recognition software does not access controls because there is an incorrect visual label in place, or a visual label does not exist. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3 Label in Name.

This occurs within the search bar and accessibility widget panel. Making it difficult for users who rely on voice recognition software to navigate around our website to access these components easily.

Colour Contrast issues

Some of our content is not displayed correctly with our main contrast design. This means it will be difficult for visually impaired users who may require this design to see all content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3 Colour Contrast (Minimum) which is the standard Level AA requirement.

Keyboard navigation & focus issues

It is difficult to bypass repeated content on certain pages. This appears to occur on pages which contain navigation menus. There are also known keyboard focus issues within these pages. These pages fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.7 Focus Visible and 2.4.1 Bypass blocks.

Keyboard focus will be set to use a web-browser’s default focus indicator.

Screen-Reader reading issues with Landmark regions and heading levels

Some of our accessibility features are not correctly contained within landmarks. This means it will be difficult for screen-reader users to find all content using landmarks. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1, 2.4.6 and 4.1.1.

Screen-Reader reading issues with Status Messages

Status messages alerting users to changes within content are not being read out. This means it will be difficult for screen-reader users to become notified of changes within our websites. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3 Status Message.

Finding these details can still be achieved by navigating to the first line of content after the search results page.

Screen-Reader reading issues with Link text context

Not all links describe their purpose using link-text alone. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4.

Disproportionate Burden

Not applicable.

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

Web content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement include:

  1. content that is archived.
  2. content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
  3. non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
  4. non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services Buckinghamshire Council
  5. live Audio and Video
  6. pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
  7. online maps and mapping services
  8. third Party Content that is not under direct control of Buckinghamshire Council or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links

What are we doing to improve accessibility?

Buckinghamshire Council are fully committed to meeting all the accessibility criteria specified in the regulatory provisions. We will continue to work with our website providers to identify the timescales needed to fix all the identified accessibility issues and provide an update with any progress made.

Buckinghamshire Council will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. This policy was last reviewed on 29 September 2020.