Accessibility statement
Accessibility statement for the South Holland District Council website
This accessibility statement applies to the sholland.gov.uk website.
This website is run by South Holland District Council in collaboration with Public Sector Partnerships Services Ltd. 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 aim to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Our ReciteMe accessibility toolbar can also help with reading text out loud, making font larger and changing the colour scheme and language of content.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Some PDF and Word documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
- Some pages and attachments may not be written in clear, plain English.
- Some pages and PDFS have empty heading or title elements.
- On some forms, session timeouts can cause data to be lost where the page button has not been activated within a certain timeframe.
- The garden waste and bulky waste forms contain unlabelled search fields within selectors, do not present error messages in the correct manner for screen reader users and do not have a logical tab order for keyboard-only users.
Feedback and contact information
If you need any information provided on this website in an alternative format that suits your needs such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us.
Report an accessibility problem
We welcome any suggestions you may have to improve the accessibility of our website. If you experience any accessibility problems that aren't mentioned on this page or if you think any part of this website doesn't meet the accessibility requirements, please let us know. Email website@sholland.gov.uk to report an accessibility problem.
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 contact us about an accessibility problem and aren't satisfied with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) (opens new window) in the following ways:
- contact EASS online (opens new window)
- call EASS on 0808 800 0082
- EASS textphone 0808 800 0084.
Technical information about this website's accessibility
South Holland District 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 (WCAG) 2.2 (opens new window) AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
A number of PDFs and documents published since 23 September 2018 are inaccessible to screen reader users.
This fails on the following WCAG 2.2 success criterion:
- 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below (Level A).
- Controls, Input: If non-text content is a control or accepts user input, then it has a name that describes its purpose. (Refer to Success Criterion 4.1.2 for additional requirements for controls and content that accepts user input.)
- Time-Based Media: If non-text content is time-based media, then text alternatives at least provide descriptive identification of the non-text content. (Refer to Guideline 1.2 for additional requirements for media.)
- Test: If non-text content is a test or exercise that would be invalid if presented in text, then text alternatives at least provide descriptive identification of the non-text content.
- Sensory: If non-text content is primarily intended to create a specific sensory experience, then text alternatives at least provide descriptive identification of the non-text content.
- CAPTCHA: If the purpose of non-text content is to confirm that content is being accessed by a person rather than a computer, then text alternatives that identify and describe the purpose of the non-text content are provided, and alternative forms of CAPTCHA using output modes for different types of sensory perception are provided to accommodate different disabilities.
- Decoration, Formatting, Invisible: If non-text content is pure decoration, is used only for visual formatting, or is not presented to users, then it is implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology.
These are being reviewed and will be:
- removed and recreated as standard HTML web page content, or
- removed and recreated as accessible PDFs/documents, or
- may be assessed and fall within 'disproportionate burden'.
This work aims to be completed by 31 March 2025.
Transactional timeouts
When using some legacy online forms, sessions can timeout where the page button has not been activated within a certain timeframe and the user is not warned of this.
This fails on the following WCAG 2.2 success criterion:
- 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable: For each time limit that is set by the content, at least one of the following is true: (Level A)
- Turn off: The user is allowed to turn off the time limit before encountering it; or
- Adjust: The user is allowed to adjust the time limit before encountering it over a wide range that is at least ten times the length of the default setting; or
- Extend: The user is warned before time expires and given at least 20 seconds to extend the time limit with a simple action (for example, "press the space bar"), and the user is allowed to extend the time limit at least ten times; or
- Real-time Exception: The time limit is a required part of a real-time event (for example, an auction), and no alternative to the time limit is possible; or
- Essential Exception: The time limit is essential and extending it would invalidate the activity; or
- Twenty Hour Exception: The time limit is longer than 20 hours.
These forms were built using a legacy form package and are on our roadmap to be replaced. As such, we plan to have remedied this issue by 31 March 2025.
Subscription to the Garden Waste Collection Scheme and Bulky Waste Collection Request forms
These forms contain unlabelled search fields within selection inputs.
This fails on the following WCAG 2.2 success criterion:
- 1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below. (Level A)
- Controls, Input: If non-text content is a control or accepts user input, then it has a name that describes its purpose. (Refer to Guideline 4.1 for additional requirements for controls and content that accepts user input.)
- 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text. (Level A)
- 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input. (Level A)
- 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: For all user interface components (including but not limited to: form elements, links and components generated by scripts), the name and role can be programmatically determined; states, properties, and values that can be set by the user can be programmatically set; and notification of changes to these items is available to user agents, including assistive technologies. (Level A)
These forms also rely solely on visual cues to relate errors to the user.
This fails on the following WCAG 2.2 success criterion:
- 3.3.1 Error Identification: If an input error is automatically detected, the item that is in error is identified and the error is described to the user in text. (Level A)
- 3.3.3 Error Suggestion: If an input error is automatically detected and suggestions for correction are known, then the suggestions are provided to the user, unless it would jeopardize the security or purpose of the content. (Level AA)
These forms also have an illogical tab order, making it difficult for some users to navigate.
This fails on the following WCAG 2.2 success criterion:
- 2.4.3 Focus Order: If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability. (Level A)
These forms were built using a legacy form package and are on our roadmap to be replaced. As such, we plan to have remedied this issue by 31 March 2025.
Disproportionate burden
Utilising the outcomes of the audit conducted by Shaw Trust and continuous automated audit via Silktide, we will actively publish any accessibility issues that arise where we may assess such issues as a disproportionate burden. Any such issues will be fully evaluated and published publicly as part of this statement.
Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Any PDF or document that is not essential to providing our services and was published prior to 23 September 2018 will not be reviewed and as such, may not meet the accessibility standards.
Live video
Any live videos produced by the council will not have captions or a transcript, as these are exempt from the accessibility regulations.
Pre-recorded video
All pre-recorded videos produced by the council since 23 September 2020 may not have subtitles, captions or transcripts, as they are not required to do so under the accessibility regulations.
What we're doing to improve accessibility
Our website has been audited by Shaw Trust Accessibility Services to test its compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1), on levels A and AA. The report from the digital accessibility assessment of our website was received on 31 July 2020.
Continuous testing is being handled in-house by our Communications Team and the Public Sector Partnership Services Web Team, through the use of an automated tool known as Silktide. This is in addition to utilising the manual skills and experience of staff within the teams.
Web Editors have received guidance documents and are being trained to create accessible content.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was originally prepared in February 2020. It was last reviewed on 31 October 2024.
The last manual tests were carried out during June 2022 by the Public Sector Partnership Services Web Team to determine the viability of a number of fixes that had been put in place. The fixes have addressed accessibility issues with duplicate adjacent links on the home page, duplicate search element ids and redundant alternative text on home page icons.
The pages tested were: