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Accessibility statement

This statement applies to content published on https://news.canterbury.gov.uk/.

This newsroom is run by Canterbury City Council’s press office. 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 newsroom 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 understand that some parts of the newsroom are not fully accessible:

  • Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
  • Some links lead to pages or documents which no longer exist.
  • Some images have inconsistent text alternatives or no alternatives at all.
  • Where links open in a new tab, this is not always specified.
  • Some images contain text which won’t be picked up by screen reader software.
  • Some pages have headings tags which are empty, so assistive technologies can’t navigate the page effectively.
  • When navigated using a keyboard or mouse click, not all functions are responsive.
  • Text in some page title tags is too long or too vague.
  • There is no way for users to bypass directly to the main content.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on the newsroom in a different format such as large print, Braille or in an audio format, you can request it online.

Tell us if you need information in a different format

Contacting us about accessibility

If you find any problems that are not listed on the newsroom or you think we’re not meeting the accessibility requirements, contact us.

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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Canterbury Newsroom is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 No.952.

This website is partially to moderately compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.

Non-compliance with accessibility regulations

  1. Some images do not have suitable alternative descriptions and others have no alternatives at all. Users of assistive technologies may not communicate the  information from in these images. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
  2. Some pages have empty heading tags, making it harder for assistive technologies to navigate the page and communicate content to users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships).
  3. Some pages have images containing text, meaning that screen readers won’t be able to translate this text without captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text).
  4. Many documents are in less accessible formats such as PDF. Non-HTML documents published on or after 23 September 2018 must be in an accessible format.
  5. Some pages have links which open in a new tab, but do not always specify that they open in a new page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.5 (Change on Request).
  6. Some pages have links that lead to pages or documents which no longer exist. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose- In Context).
  7. When using a keyboard or mouse click, not all the buttons change appearance, affecting page navigation for users with visual or motor impairments. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus visible).
  8. Some pages have title tags which are too vague. If read by screen readers, they may not make sense for users with cognitive difficulties. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled).
  9. The newsroom has no mechanism for skipping to the main content. This makes the user experience longer for users with screen readers or using a keyboard. This fails WCAG2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).

Disproportionate burden

Non-HTML documents

Some documents on the newsroom are not accessible due to issues such as missing text alternatives and document formats.

We have assessed the time and cost of making them accessible and believe updating these would represent a disproportionate burden, considering the resources available to us, as they are infrequently used and are not essential to providing a direct service.

Accessible versions will be provided if needed, and can be requested by contacting us directly.

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, surveys and environmental development maps.

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 have an accessible means of viewing them.

How we tested this website

This statement was prepared on Thursday 29 September 2022. It will be next reviewed on 29 April 2023.

This website was last tested on Sunday 25 September 2022. The test was carried out by Silktide as well as through manual testing.

Silktide tested every page on this website. We manually tested a broad range of pages including directories and menus.