Accessibility Statement

ACCESSIBILITY UPDATE – 15 OCTOBER 2024

Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council strives to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities. The Parish Council has invested a significant number of resources to help ensure that its website is made easier to use and more accessible for people with disabilities, with the strong belief that every person has the right to live with dignity, equality, comfort and independence.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. This is why we are currently performing a full audit and restructure of our website to improve functionality and accessibility. Users that experience difficulties are encouraged to contact the Council by emailing the Deputy Clerk deputyclerk@fairoak-pc.gov.uk or calling 02380 69 2403.

 

GENERAL

Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council strives to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities. The Parish Council has invested a significant amount of resources to help ensure that its website is made easier to use and more accessible for people with disabilities, with the strong belief that every person has the right to live with dignity, equality, comfort and independence.

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
  • 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)

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.

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 5 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions.

REPORTING ACCESSIBILITY ISSUES 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 the Parish Clerk - email enquiries@fairoak-pc.gov.uk or call 023 8069 2403.

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 D/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 here.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEBSITE'S ACCESSIBILITY

Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

ACCESSIBILITY ON THIS WEBSITE

Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council makes available the Free Website Accessibility Widget that is powered by a dedicated accessibility server. The software allows the Parish Council to improve compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1).

ENABLING THE ACCESSIBILITY MENU

Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council’s accessibility menu can be enabled by clicking the accessibility menu icon that appears at the top of the page. After triggering the accessibility menu, please wait a moment for the accessibility menu to load in its entirety.

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 non-accessible content on the site (listed below) cannot be addressed without disproportionate burden.

DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN

All remaining non-accessible content is listed below.  The Council has deemed that it would be a disproportionate burden to fix these non-compliances:

  • We are unable to show field-specific error messages following an incorrect form submission;
  • We are unable to customise error messages received following incorrect booking form information;
  • We are unable to make expandable accordion modules fully accessible.  However, we've changed site settings so that the top accordion response is automatically expanded and can be navigated via keyboard.
  • While we have updated most pdfs/Word documents created after September 2018 to be accessible, some documents (such as exports of Financial Statements) are not fully accessible due to the way they have been exported from other systems.  There would have been a disproportionate burden involved in making this information accessible.  
  • There are 3 empty heading/empty link errors site-wide. The first relates to the logo in the header, which has image alt text explaining the image; the second relates to a redundant link in the navigation menu which cannot be easily removed; the third relates to the 'Click here for directions' heading in the expandable row at the foot of the page.
  • There are contrast errors site-wide, but this is due to the Council branding (e.g., white text on green background). Where possible, we've increased the font size to 18pt+ to minimise contrast issues. Furthermore, contrast errors can be overcome using the UserWay widget.
  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

WHAT WE'RE DOING TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY

Ongoing website maintenance and future annual audits will strive to resolve these errors.

DISCLAIMER

Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council continues its efforts to constantly improve the accessibility of this website and services in the belief that it is our collective moral obligation to allow seamless accessible and unhindered use also for those of us with disabilities.

Despite our efforts to make all pages and content on this website fully accessible, some content may not have yet been fully adapted to the strictest accessibility standards. This may be a result of not having found or identified the most appropriate technological solution.

PREPARATION OF THIS ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

This statement was prepared in 2019. It was last reviewed and updated on 5th October 2020.

This website was last tested on 5th October 2020. The test was carried out by Smart Marketing Management Ltd.

The rationale for these tests were as follows:

  • The guidance used for this audit is published by gov.uk and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-your-website-or-app-accessible-and-publish-an-accessibility-statement#decide-how-to-check-your-website-or-app-for-accessibility-problems 
  • Gov.uk suggests 3 methods of audit. Method 3 (Basic Check for Accessibility) has been applied in this case.
  • The justification for completing a basic check was that a detailed WCAG 2.1 check would be a disproportionate burden. Quotes obtained by the Parish Council for a detailed check ran into several thousands of pounds. The yearly expenditure on the website is in the region of £1,000 - £1,200
  • The basic check has been completed based on guidance from gov.uk, which can be found here:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/doing-a-basic-accessibility-check-if-you-cant-do-a-detailed-one/doing-a-basic-accessibility-check-if-you-cant-do-a-detailed-one 
  • Sample pages were selected for the audit according to guidelines provided in the gov.uk 'Basic Accessibility Guidance' document ('Preparing to do a basic accessibility check')
  • In selecting sample pages, Google Analytics data (which advised the most popular pages visited on the site) was also considered. These pages were included in the audit
  • The sample pages selected covered all of the following criteria: Home page, text-based pages, image content (there is no video or audit content currently on the site), interactive tools and transactions (including pages containing forms and the WooCommerce hall bookings process), PDFs and other documents and spreadsheets, navigation pages, dynamic pages (the only dynamic content on the site refers to dynamic image carousels), and information pages (including the Privacy Policy and Accessibility Statement).
  • WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) was used for many of the audit checks
  • The UserWay Accessibility widget is installed on the site, tested, and was found to be working as expected
  • Following the audit, a 'Roadmap to Compliance' was produced, listing all areas of non-compliance.  The action points on this Roadmap were implemented in September 2020.
  • Content fixes not included in the Roadmap to Compliance included those listed in the gov.uk guidance as being exempt from accessibility regulations. These included PDFs and other documents created before 23 September 2018 (unless they are used as part of a service); maps (as long as text-based addresses are also provided); and third party content that is under someone else's control (e.g. the Paypal payment function on the payment gateway of the hall booking process. Also all external sites relating to Hampshire County Council and Eastleigh Borough Council).

A copy of the full accessibility test report is available on request - email enquiries@fairoak-pc.gov.uk