Startforth Parish Council

How accessible this website is

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

·  you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

·  most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

·  you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader.

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

·  email clerk@startforthparishcouncil.gov.uk

·  call 01833 640893

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 10 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, contact: clerk@startforthparishcouncil.gov.uk giving the page title and the nature of the 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’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

Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

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 images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We plan to add text alternatives for all images by March 2021. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information

There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option). This fails WCAG2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks).

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content. This fails WCAG2.1 success criterion 1.3.4 (orientation).

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment in March 2021.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and spreadsheet documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). 

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.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested in August 2022. The test was carried out by ourselves. 

We tested our main website platform, available at http://www.startforthparishcouncil.gov.uk