Accessibility

Accessibility Statement – Gloucester City Council

Gloucester City Council is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. This accessibility statement applies to the following website https://www.gloucester.gov.uk/ and associated mini-sites.

This website should allow any user to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and size of text.
• 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 (including the most recent versions of NVDA and VoiceOver)

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

This website is designed to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) – Level AA.

Using this Website

Accessible Features

This website uses a widget that contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.

These features include: -

Contrast & Font Size

Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.

This website has two colour contrast settings, firstly, the “default colour scheme” which provides a suitable level of contrast for most users and satisfies the accessibility standards. However, if a user feels the colour contrast is too low in areas the website also contains a “high contrast scheme” which satisfies all accessibility standards for colour contrast.

A user can change the contrast settings by clicking on the icons at the top right of screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to colour scheme” and “Switch to high contrast scheme” respectively for the same result.

To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to normal font size”, “Switch to big font size” and “Switch to biggest font size” respectively for the same result. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The website will work up to 200%

Further information on accessibility options

The RNIB has a webpage with information on options that computers have which can make it easier for people with low or no vision to use them. - RNB Accessibility Options

Accessible Alternatives

Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards where possible.

Where appropriate we may be able to deliver content to users in accordance with their needs.

Please see “Make a request for Accessible Content” section for further details.

Make a request for Accessible Content

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille; Please fill out details in Contact us form or use the appropriate details, below.

Contact Details

Gloucester City Council manage the content on this website.

Please ensure you tell them you are using this website

• Phone: 01452 396396
• Email: heretohelp@gloucester.gov.uk

We will consider your request and get back to you within 30 days.

Purpose of Links

Gloucester City Council will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.

Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose. However, in certain areas of the website adding this extra description will become a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

We have provided the following definition for external links: -

External Links will be used for any content that has known limitations with assistive technologies OR navigates a user away from secure platforms. In summary, this means the following items are considered External links –

1. Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
2. Redirection away from secure platforms
3. External websites that are not part of Gloucester City Council.

How Accessible is this Website?

Since this website was last reviewed we know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Third party CookieBot is not keyboard navigable; 
• A keyboard-only user cannot access the feedback form button;
• Links text in notifications do not meet colour contrast requirements;
• Not all links are underlined by default;
• Homepage carousel buttons not labelled properly for screen reader user;
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
• Live video streams do not have captions;

Contact us and Complaints Procedure

We are always looking for ways to improve the website. If you find any problems that are not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations please contact us on –

Contact Details for Gloucester City Council

Gloucester City Council Contact Details: -

Please ensure you tell them you are using this website

• Phone: 01452 396396
• Email: heretohelp@gloucester.gov.uk

We will consider your request and get back to you within 30 days.

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

Gloucester City Council are 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 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed in the following section, “Non-Accessible Content”.

Non-Accessible Content

If accessibility issues are discovered for this website, we will list all known issues in this section.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

During our last review of this website it has come to our attention that there are areas of the website that fail to meet WCAG 2.1:

Missing Alt Text on Feedback Form

It has been discovered in the last review of this website that the feedback form had missing alternative text on linked images. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1 which is a Level A requirement.

All other images should have appropriate alternative text.  

We have notified our website provider who currently reviewing this issue. A fix should be applied shortly.

Contrast issues

It has been discovered in the last review of this website that some link text fails colour contrast regulations. This was discovered on the notifications items that have multicoloured backgrounds. This fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Colour Contrast (Minimum).

All content passes contrast regulations at the high contrast alternative.

We have notified our website provider who currently reviewing this issue. A fix should be applied shortly.

Homepage Carousel issues

It has been discovered in the last review of this website that the Carousel has buttons that are inaccessible to a screen-reader user. 

We have notified our website provider who currently reviewing this issue. A fix should be applied shortly.

Link text issues

It has been discovered in the last review of this website that the feedback link is not focusable for a keyboard user. 

We have notified our website provider who currently reviewing this issue. A fix should be applied shortly.

PDF issues

It has been discovered in the last review of this website that some PDF documents do not have an acceptable page title.

We are reviewing our most common PDF documents to see if we can adapt hem to accessible HTML.

Third party Cookiebot issues

It has been discovered in the last review of this website that the CookieBot widget we use to conform to GDPR regulations is inaccessible for some screen reader user. Keyboard navigation of the widget does not work 

We are reviewing the widget with our website provider to see if a solution can be found.

Disproportionate Burden

There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Web Content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement are as follows: -

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 Gloucester provide provides.
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 Gloucester or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links

Policy Review

This statement was prepared on 01/07/2020. Gloucester will review this policy every year on or before September of every year. This policy was last reviewed on 01/12/2021.