Accessibility statement
This website is run by Staffordshire County Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- zoom in up to 400% 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.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- 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
- you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
- there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page
- you cannot change the font colour, size and contrast levels
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.
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, contact: digital@staffordshire.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 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.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Staffordshire County 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 partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non accessible content and non compliance with the accessibility regulations
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
- some of our older videos may not have captions
- some of our images may not have an 'alt-tag'
- some of our modern gov documents
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).
We plan to add text alternatives for all images by January 2023. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
We are aware that some internal applications and externally hosted systems do not comply with accessibility and usability standards. Some are old software that we cannot easily change. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing all the issues listed below and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations:
- geographical information mapping (GIS)
- secure online payment sites
- e-Services (for example online archive catalogue, online archaeology library)
- library services (online catalogue)
- Register a birth or death appointment
- document library for our planning department (volume of scanned PDFs)
Some parts of this site link to or use content provided by other websites and these are not always as accessible as our site. Examples of these are:
- tweets and the Twitter panels from Twitter
- committee minutes and agendas search and display system
- adult social care assessment portal
Disproportionate burden
- Local transport plans
- Planning document libraries
- Annual statements
- DPS contact award notices
- Expenditure exceeding £500
Navigation and accessing information
There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the homepage header. There is a skip to content on all other pages.
It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.
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.
We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with 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 further assessments as and when relevant contracts are up for renewal.
Content that's not within the scope of accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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 January 2023 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 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.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We are working with service areas to assure that all newly commissioned third party software complies with the latest accessibility regulations.
We are working to reduce the amount of documents that currently do not meet the accessibility regulations and have governance in place that no further documents are added that don't meet accessibility standards. We plan to provide an accessible HTML version of any new information as the primary source rather than using a PDF.
We are working with SocITM and Deque to carry out an accessibility assessment and suggest remedial actions for us to undertake.
We are working to ensure that all videos have the correct captions and have governance in place to ensure no further videos are added without correct captions.
We are working to remove unnecessary images, and where they are necessary, that they have appropriate alt tags and descriptions.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 11/11/2019. It was last reviewed on 15/08/2022.
This website is tested on a weekly basis. The test was carried out by deque and will continue to use this tool to make suggested improvements.
We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test, we tested the following:
- Homepage
- Landing page
- informational page
- Newsroom