Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Essex County Council website located at thecakeescape.org.uk

This website is run by Essex County 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 400% 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:

Some images do no not have the correct alternative information making it difficult to understand the purpose of the image if using a screen reader.
The page content is not broken into landmarks making it difficult for users to navigate to specific sections of the page.
Some form fields do not identify the purpose of the input or have labels that are connected correctly making it difficult for users of assistive technologies to understand the purpose of the input.
The colour combination of some buttons has low contrast making it difficult for some users to see.
When increasing the font size some menu items are obscured and impossible to read
The carousel of images is automatic and offer no option to pause or stop.
There is no option to skip past repeated content.
Some links are ambiguous making it difficult to understand their destination.
The focus on some elements has low contrast making it difficult to see.
Some links that go to the same page are not identified consistently making it confusing for some users.
Errors for inputs do not suggest correct ways of inputting data

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:

Email: Accessibility@essex.gov.uk
We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 20 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 the accessibility team at Accessibility@essex.gov.uk who will consider your request and get back to you within 20 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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Essex County 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.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The alt text on some images is not an accurate textual representation of the image. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

We plan to ensure all images have accurate alt text by 1 June 2021.

None of the content is included in landmarks and tables are used to format content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships).

We plan to ensure all content is marked up using the correct HTML by 1 June 2021.

The contrast of some text is below the minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio making it difficult to read for some users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)).

Some elements contrast falls below the minimum 3:1 contrast ratio making it difficult for some users to see. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text contrast).

We plan to ensure all elements have the correct colour contrast by 1 June 2021.

When increasing the font size to 200% some text overflows its container or is obscured from view. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize Text)

We aim to ensure that when resizing text that we do not lose content or functionality by 1^st June 2021.

Carousels cannot be paused or stopped. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2 (Pause, Hide, Stop).

We plan to ensure that all elements can be controlled by the user by 1 June 2021.

The website does not have the option to skip past repeated such as the navigation and header. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass blocks).

We plan to add skip links to repeated content by 1 June 2021.

The focus on elements is not always clearly visible and may be difficult to see for some users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7(Focus visible).

We plan to ensure focus is clear on all elements by 1 June 2021.

Some elements that require a label or supporting information to help users interact are not always clearly connected. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3 (Lable in name).

We plan to ensure the visible label is clearly connected to the accessible name by 1 June 2021.

Links that go to the same destination are not always consistently identified making it confusing to some users where the links go. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.4 (Consistent Identification).

We plan to ensure all elements and components are consistently identified by 1 June 2021.

Form labels or instructions are not programmatically connected to their inputs making it difficult for some users to understand the [purpose of the input. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels and instructions).

We plan to ensure all form fields are correctly labelled and described by 1 June 2021.

When incorrectly filling in a form the error messages do not suggest a correct way of inputting the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.3 (Error suggestion).

We plan to ensure all error messages are helpful to the user by 1 June 2021.

Issues with interactive tools and transactions

Our forms are built and hosted using a third-party product. We are in the process of upgrading all of our forms to the latest version of this product.

The vendor states that ‘citizen facing products are being updated to ensure they meet all required elements of the accessibility directive that require implementation in the EN 301 549 mandate.’

The Shaw Trust has identified the following issues with our current forms:

when mandatory fields are left blank, the screen reader is left on the ‘Next’ button as they try to progress rather than being taken to the top of the page and notified of the missing information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 (Error Identification).

We are working with our supplier to resolve the issue.

Other accessibility issues

We use a pop-up poll to capture user feedback on the website. The Shaw Trust has identified the following accessibility issues:

the survey page has a missing heading 2 and 3
the poll pop-up has ambiguous form fields where the Yes/No radio buttons are not related to the question. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or instructions)
the default language has not been set. This fails WCAG2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page)

We are working with the supplier to resolve the issues.

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.

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

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We will look to fix the accessibility issues listed in this statement by the outlined dates and will ensure that any content added in the future meets the requirements meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

We will continue to monitor accessibility using automated and manual checks.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 18 December 2020. It was last reviewed on 18 December 2020.

This website was last tested on 18 December 2020. The test was carried out by Essex County Council.