We strive to make our website as user-friendly and accessible as possible. To achieve this, we follow W3C accessibility guidance and the principles of Plain English.
This website is run by Wokingham Borough 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 percent 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
- Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- Live video streams do not have captions
- There’s a limit to how far you can magnify our maps
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, email customerservice@wokingham.gov.uk, and provide us with your:
- Email address
- Phone number
We'll consider your request and get back to you in 3 working days.
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 email customerservice@wokingham.gov.uk.
Enforcement
If accessibility issues remain after giving you time to fix them, the Minister for the Cabinet Office will pass the case to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) or Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) to take the complaint further. Public sector bodies must publish an accessibility statement and review it regularly. If the decision is taken that a public sector body has failed to publish an accessibility statement or that the accessibility statement is incorrect, the Minister for the Cabinet Office may publish the name of the body and a copy of the decision. Read more about the enforcement process.
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. Please email customerservice@wokingham.go.uk for more information.
Technical information about this website's accessibility
Wokingham Borough Council is committed to making its website accessible, in line 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 listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Header and footer
- 2.4.6 Headings and labels
There is a descriptive heading missing from the 'Live Chat'
Provisional date for corrective action Aug 2023
Contact us online
- 3.3.1 Error identification
Error message is not announced when a field has an error. Difficult to see label design and colour.
Mandatory fields are not announced. - 1.3.5 Identify input purpose
There is no auto-complete - 3.3.3 Error suggestion
Errors can be missed by those using a keyboard
Provisional date for corrective action Jun 2023
Across the site
- 2.1.1 Keyboard focus
Live Help button cannot be accessed using the keyboard
Provisional date for corrective action Jun 2023
- 2.4.1 Bypass blocks, 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
Contact us, News and latest. The iframe is missing a label
Provisional date for corrective action June 2023
- 2.4.3 Focus order
On mobile devices, the focus is taken to the bottom of the page rather than placed on the close button or first menu item
- 4.1.2 Name, role, value
On mobile devices, the page menu is not conveyed to assistive technology
Provisional date for corrective action June 2023
Disproportionate burden
The following accessibility issues detailed below and mentioned in this statement make some of our interactive forms (38) difficult to navigate, particularly for those using a keyboard or screen reader:
- 1.3.5 Identify input purpose
There is no auto-complete
- 3.3.1 Error identification
Error message is not announced when a field has an error. Difficult to see label design and colour.
Mandatory fields are not announced. - 3.3.3 Error suggestion
Errors can be missed by those using a keyboard
The cost of rebuilding these forms using our customer relationship management system would be over £100,000. Our current annual budget for support and maintenance of Wokingham.gov.uk is approximately £30,000.
We’ve also investigated fixing the following accessibility issues detailed below and mentioned in this statement with the supplier of our current content management system:
- 2.1.1 Keyboard focus
Links in the right-hand navigation on content pages are not always reported by screen readers on chrome. - 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks
Users must be able to bypass blocks of content
- 2.4.3 Focus order
On mobile devices focus is taken to the bottom of the page rather than placed on the close button or first menu item.
- 4.1.2 Name, role, value
On mobile devices, the page menu is not conveyed to assistive technology.
These accessibility issues can only be fixed by the supplier that developed this system. However, they have informed us that they only now fix the system for reasons of care and maintenance. This means they will not make the changes required to fix theses accessibility problems as they are no longer investing in improving the system. We are contracted with this supplier until July 2023.
To fix all these accessibility issues, detailed work has begun to assess the options for buying a new website system and/or rebuilding the website. This includes options for building accessible interactive forms using a form builder module as part of any new system so they comply with accessibility regulations.
The cost of a new website platform and rebuilding the website is significantly more than our current website support and maintenance budget and we are currently awaiting confirmation of the funding.
Once funding is confirmed the first phase of the new website will be built and tested for compliance against the accessibility regulations, it is expected to be ready for launch in June 2023.
When we launch the new website this disproportionate burden will end.
Content that's not within the scope of 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. During 2022/23, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages
- 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
What we're doing to improve accessibility
We regularly monitor the accessibility of this website using automated Quality Assurance software. We use this software to identify and fix any issues that arise. We also have a schedule of improvements as listed above.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 31 January 2021. This statement was last reviewed on 29 November 2022.
This website was last tested by the Central Digital and Data Office, November 2021. It was also tested by Invuse in July 2021, using automated software and manual testing. The tests themselves were undertaken by RNIB usability and accessibility staff. The following technology was used: NVDA screen reader with Firefox, JAWS screen reader with Chrome, Magnification programme, high contrast colour on PC, Voiceover and Zoom with iOS on mobile and a review of selected elements with Switch Control and Voice Control. We tested key journeys across our main website platform, available at www.wokingham.gov.uk. These included: How to pay council tax, rubbish collection day, register a birth and register for housing online. This also incorporated the header, footer, navigation pages and the home page. This ensured key page templates were covered. Other pages and functionality tested were: contact us online, make a complaint, the live help chat, compliance banner and the third-party ad banner.
