Content outside of the scope of accessibility regulations

Disproportionate burden

Regulations require the Council to undertake an assessment of the costs and benefits of persons with disabilities, considering the frequency and duration of use of the document.  This means that the costs of making the information accessible is greater than the benefits by a significant margin. It must then justify the decision clearly and provide alternatives for those requiring the information. 

Costs should include direct financial costs and time required to make the information accessible. Factors to consider in terms of benefits are: 

• The number of users of the document
• Number of residents impacted
• impact on individuals of being unable to access the information, however information that involves a potential risk to life should always be in an accessible format
• The alternative arrangements to communicate the information.

Information aimed at an audience that is likely to use voiceover technology, such as people with visual impairments, low levels of literacy, dyslexia, and English as a foreign language, or those with conditions restricting the use of a mouse such as Parkinson’s or mobility issue, should always be in accessible format and no disproportionate burden exemption will be permitted.    

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

• Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader. We now have governance in place to make replacements in an accessible format. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. 
• 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. 
• The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Third-Party Content

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we endeavour to work with the third party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

• Links to non-wokingham.gov.uk websites.
• Content/functionality on our website.
• Content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites.