Accessibility statement

How West Northamptonshire Council websites are organised

The West Northamptonshire Council ‘website’ is many separate websites and services, covering different areas of our work. Each website has its own accessibility statement, to ensure we can properly describe the accessibility for each site or service.

This accessibility statement covers the main ‘parent’ website for West Northamptonshire Council at westnorthants.gov.uk and does not cover the wider family of West Northamptonshire Council websites.

Introduction

This website is run by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, and we want this site to be as accessible as possible. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser settings
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen using browser settings
• 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

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

The My Computer My Way guide from AbilityNet is a step-by-step guide to help you make your device easier to use.

Translation

If you would like information on our website translated into another language, you may find one of the services listed below meets your needs. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any external website or free website translators.

• Bing Microsoft Translator
• Google Translate

Under some circumstances, for example, if you cannot read the information easily in English, you can request information in a different language from us. This includes British Sign Language, easy read or a foreign language. Please contact our customer service centre for advice.

How accessible is this website?

This website has been developed to be as accessible as possible. However, we know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:

• Some content may be difficult to navigate using a screen reader

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 [email protected]
• call: 0300 126 7000 and asking for the Web Team
• post to Web Team, One Angel Square, Northampton NN1 1ED

We'll consider your request and get back to you within 14 days.

If you cannot view the map on our contact us page, please call us on 0300 126 7000 for directions.

Enforcement

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).

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

West Northamptonshire 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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Forms

We are aware of the following issues with our forms platform:

• Heading structure - some forms follow an illogical heading structure. This does not meet WCAG success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.6
• Unlabelled form fields - some form fields are not labelled correctly. This does not meet WCAG success criteria 1.1.1, 1.3.1, 3.3.2 and 4.1.2
• Form error handling - errors are not reported via screen reader software. This does not meet WCAG success criteria 3.3.1, 3.3.3 and 4.1.3
• Untitled frames - some frames are not titled. This does not meet WCAG success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.1

We have raised these issues with our forms supplier and will continue to work with them to fix. We will provide an update on this by the end of September 2024.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

External links

This website links to third-party, external websites or services that may not be fully accessible.

PDFs

We have inherited some historic PDFs from the former authorities that now make up West Northamptonshire Council that were created prior to September 2018. These are not needed to perform a service and are not within the scope of the regulations.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We provide training to all content authors to ensure new content is accessible. We monitor this website weekly and we aim to address any issues promptly. We will be reviewing this site regularly and updating this statement accordingly.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 11 January 2021. It was last reviewed on 7 November 2024.

Pages of this website are audited for WCAG 2.2AA compliance issues using Monsido, a third-party automated service on a weekly basis. Regular manual checks are made on random pages by our web team as well as by using automated tools.

Last updated 07 November 2024