Accessibility statement for Walsall Children’s Services Procedures Manual

 

This accessibility statement applies to Walsall Children’s Services Procedures Manual.

This website is run by Walsall 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 using browser or device settings;
  • Zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen;
  • Navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software;
  • Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and Voice-over).

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:

  • The text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window;
  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text;
  • Webpage focus is not clear for keyboard users;
  • Colour contrast makes it hard to read the text in some parts of the website;
  • Some parts of the forms are not marked up correctly;
  • Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.

Feedback and contact information

Tell us if you need information on this website in a different format. In your message, include:

  • The web address (URL) of the content;
  • Your name and email address;
  • The format you need (for example, BSL, large print, accessible PDF, audio recording, easy read or braille).

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.

We are working on our content and will continue to make this more readable. All of our pages let you provide feedback to us and we encourage you to tell us what you think.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, let us know via:

  • Email: webproject@walsall.gov.uk;
  • Phone: +44 1922 650000;
  • Visitor address: Walsall Council, The Civic Centre, Walsall, WS1 1TP.

We will respond to feedback within 5 working days

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Walsall 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Some tables, buttons and form elements have been marked up incorrectly. This may impact Blind or low vision users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. We plan to amend the tables, buttons and form elements by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of headings meets accessibility standards.

Some content does not reflow when viewed at high browser magnification, which means people with visual impairments may be unable to access some content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow) We plan to amend the magnification by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of magnification meets accessibility standards.

Visual information to identify user interface components, such as keyboard focus, does not always have a sufficient contrast ratio. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.11 (Non text contrast) We plan to amend the text spacing by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of keyboard focus meets accessibility standards.

On some pages, text cannot be increased causing loss of content and functionality. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.12 Text Spacing. We plan to amend the text spacing by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of text spacing meets accessibility standards.

On some pages our navigation dropdown menu currently remains hidden and is not included in the tabbing order. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.13 Content on hover or focus. We plan to amend the navigation by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of navigation meets accessibility standards.

Some parts of the website do not have sufficient contrast. Between the text and background colours. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)). We plan to amend the colour contrast by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of colour meets accessibility standards.

Some text cannot be resized without loss of content or functionality. Which means people with visual impairments may be unable to access some content This doesn’t meet WCAG success criteria 1.4.4 (Resize Text). We plan to amend the text resizing May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of text resizing meets accessibility standards.

Not all page functionality is available to Keyboard only users, This may effect users who are blind or have low vision. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard) We plan to amend the keyboard functionality by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of keyboard functionality meets accessibility standards.

Some of the keyboard focus may not be clearly visible. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.11 Focus Appearance. We plan to amend the keyboard appearance by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of focus appearance meet accessibility standards.

On some pages the tabbing order is not logical when navigating with a keyboard. This fails WCAG success criteria 2.4.3 ( Focus Order) We plan to amend the tabbing order by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of navigation meets accessibility standards.

Some links do not take the user to the correct destination. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context). We plan to amend the links by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of links meets accessibility standards.

Some elements on the page keyboard focus was unclear. This would effect users with low vision and cognitive impairments. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 Success criteria 2.4.7 (Focus Visible). We plan to amend the keyboard focus by April 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of keyboard focus to meet accessibility standards)

Some icons on our website lack consistent styling. As elements that have the same functionality, such as links and buttons, should be consistently identified for a better user experience. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.2.4 Consistent identification. We plan to amend the styling by May 2024. When we publish new content we will ensure our styling meets accessibility standards.

Some elements have not been marked up correctly with unique ID’s. This fails WCAG success criteria 4.1.1(Parsing) We plan to amend the mark up by May 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of mark up meets accessibility standards.

PDF documents

Some of our PDFs are not formatted so they’re accessible to a screen reader. Some errors may include, missing:

  1. Text content. All non-text content presented to the user should have a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose. If these are missing this doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non text content;
  2. Colour contrast. Some parts of PDF’s do not have sufficient contrast between the text and background colours. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast minimum;
  3. Page titles. PDF documents should have titles that describe the topic or purpose of the page. If these are missing this doesn't meet WCAG success criteria 2.4.2. Page Titled;
  4. Name, role, value. For all user interface components, some of which are essential to providing our services (for example, forms published as Word documents). If these are missing this doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, role, value.

Content that’s not within the scope of the 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 September 2020, 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. For example, we do not plan to fix [example of non-essential document].

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 November 2023. It was last reviewed on 22 November 2023.

This website was last tested on 30 October 2023. The test was carried out by the web accessibility team in Walsall Council. Our tests include:

  • Accessibility testing using automated tools such as WAVE and axe DevTools;
  • Visual inspection of interactive elements;
  • Interacting with the website using only a keyboard;
  • Interacting with the website using a screen reader.