Accessibility statement for Cornwall Council website
This website is run by Cornwall Council. 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.
Ability Net has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
This accessibility statement applies to our main website platform www.cornwall.gov.uk
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- the text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
- you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- live video streams do not have captions
- some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- The moving images on the homepage cannot be paused, or controlled with a keyboard
- Some parts of the homepage and some headings do not have a strong enough colour contrast
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 equality@cornwall.gov.uk
- call 0300 1234 100.
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
Please contact the web team using webmanager@cornwall.gov.uk.
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 feedback or 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.
Some of our offices have audio induction loops, if you would like more information please contact the Equality and diversity team. If you are visiting one of our offices please contact us before your visit if you need extra help.
- email equality@cornwall.gov.uk
- call 0300 1234 100
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Cornwall 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 2.1AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions’ listed below.
Non accessible content
Non compliance with the accessibility regulations
Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
The Council’s statement of accounts is a largely technical document, the content and layout of which is dictated by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the CIPFA Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting. Parts of the documents may not be accessible.
Disproportionate burden
Navigation and accessing information
It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (orientation).
It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text).
Interactive tools and transactions
Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.
Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).
We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with:
- navigation and accessing information
- interactive tools and transactions
We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal.
Online systems provided by third party suppliers
Some of our online services are provided by third-party applications - these are platforms and websites developed by external suppliers. Because third-party applications are partly or wholly out of our control, they may not conform to the same levels of accessibility as the main website.
Third-party applications include:
- Online payments
- Lagan forms
- FIS directory and SEND Local Offer (family information service)
- Public Access applications search (planning, building control and licensing)
- Zatpark parking portal
- Prism (online library service)
- Jobs applications
- Self service (council tax, benefits information or business rates)
- Homechoice
- School admissions
- Democracy Cornwall (councillors and meeting information)
- Lets Talk (consultations)
- Engagespace - (transport consultations)
- Fire Service Fire risk reporting form
- Mosaic web forms
The costs and resources to work with suppliers to make changes to all these systems is a disproportionate burden.
To meet all the requirements for these third party sites would overwhelmingly exceed our website budget for the year and leave us unable to do any other work - and would not significantly improve things for disabled users.
These systems will be reviewed at the end of their contract and the new procurement will include requirements for the systems to meet accessibility regulations.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
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. This is 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 do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Online Mapping
Online mapping is excluded from these regulations. However we will provide essential addresses in text format.
How we tested this website
This website is tested weekly and monthly. These tests are carried out by Sitemorse. The test results show accessibilty issues with page and documents and the issues are split between the web team to fix over the month prior to the next test.
We have an approval system in place so that all content is run through a manual accessibility test before being published.
Please note: This does not include the news area. This area does not go through the approval system and pages are not tested prior to being published.
We also use the W3C html testing service and Accessibility Insights for Web tool to check the website code.
We use the WAVE tool to check colour contrast.
We test:
- our main website platform, available at www.cornwall.gov.uk
- all forms available at https://secure.cornwall.gov.uk
- third party services based on a different technical platform but ‘skinned’ to look like our website including but not limited to:
- http://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/
- https://selfserv.cornwall.gov.uk/
- https://prism.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/cornwall/
All systems we buy must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standards. This is a mandatory requirement in our procurement process.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
- We will continue to test all our content using our approval process.
- We will test any new templates, layouts and functions.
- We will act on and respond to all feedback we receive about issues using the website.
This statement was prepared January 2020. It was last reviewed on 08 August 2022.
This website was last tested on 16 February 2022, this was a full site test, testing all pages. The test was carried out by Sitemorse.