Accessibility statement for www.ipswich.gov.uk.

This website is run by Ipswich 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% 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:

• many PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
• some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• some of the html code is not fully compliant
• some of the systems this website links to are provided by third parties and are not fully accessible.

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, please contact us using the details on our contact us page. 

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.

If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Web Team by emailing web.editor@ipswich.gov.uk.

Please include:

• ‘Website accessibility’ in the subject line
• the web address (URL) of the page with the issue
• details of the issue

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

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Ipswich Borough 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 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

Images

Some images don’t have a text alternative, so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by March 2022.

Some images contain text, so people with dyslexia or using a screen reader will not be able to read the information. This doesn't meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text). We plan to remove images containing text by March 2022.

When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Links

On some pages the same link text is used for links going to different destinations, so people might not know the difference. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose, in context). We plan to make links and link destinations clear all pages by March 2022.

On some pages, links don’t have a text alternative, so people might not know the purpose of the link or what they can expect to find after they click it. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose, in context). We plan to add text alternatives to links on all pages by March 2022.

On some pages the image link is missing an alternative text stating the purpose of the link, this can be problematic for visitors who are blind or have low vision. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose, in context). We plan to add alternative text to image links on all pages by March 2022.

When we publish new pages, we’ll make sure link text meets accessibility standards.

PDFs and other documents

Many of our PDFs and other document types may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role Value. We aim to ensure the top 10% most viewed documents on our website are accessible.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services but may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role value).

By March 2022, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish should meet accessibility standards.

We cannot always guarantee that documents produced by external organisations, and published on our websites, are fully accessible.

We have to host a considerable number of documents in relation to the local plan and neighbourhood plans and it is not possible to get all the different organisations to adhere to our accessibility requirements.

If this is the case and you need a document in an accessible format, please contact us

Page layout

Overflow: hidden is used in our News section on the homepage to prevent text from rendering outside of the specified area. This clips the content at the edge of its container and makes the overflow invisible. This can cause issues for people using keyboard only navigation as it takes them to hidden content that they are unable to see and there is no visible keyboard focus to help them identify where they are on the page. We plan to resolve this by March 2022.

Other web development issues

On some pages, the italics-tag 'i' is used to highlight text. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. We plan to remove italics tags, (except where they are necessary for a legal term) by March 2022.

Disproportionate burden

We don't categorise any of the accessibility issues on www.ipswich.gov.uk as a disproportionate burden to fix within the meaning of the regulations (with the exception of PDFs and other documents).

We've published a disproportionate burden assessment that explains:

• we carried out detailed accessibility checks of www.ipswich.gov.uk as this is our most important content
• we carried out basic checks of our other websites - as paying for detailed checks would be a disproportionate burden on our organisation
• Some of our systems and interactive forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website but are not fully accessible. We do not have direct control over these third-party systems. Paying to fix the issues would be a disproportionate burden on our organisation.
• we planned to fix the top 10% most viewed documents on www.ipswich.gov.uk by March 2022 - as fixing every document would be a disproportionate burden on our organisation

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 or PDF documents. By March 2022, 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.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will continue working towards meeting WCAG level AA for the current version of ipswich.gov.uk, including:

• maintaining and creating accessible content in line with best practice guidance
• working with developers and editors to fix code and content issues with our website
• carrying out further accessibility testing involving people with disabilities and impairments 

When we launch the next version of ipswich.gov.uk, we will aim for it to meet WCAG level AAA.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared in September 2020. It was last reviewed in December 2021.

A detailed accessibility check of www.ipswich.gov.uk was last carried out in November 2021 by Ipswich Borough Council.

We carried out our testing based on a sample of our most used pages, forms, documents and other media.

We used a combination of methods to check this website, including: 

• automated software (Siteimprove)
• manual sampling (using WAVE and other tools)