Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The following sections detail where our content fails to be fully compliant with the accessibility regulations. We have listed the estimated percentage of items currently failing where known as of our last full test on 31 March 2025.

Articles

Our automated tests currently report the following issues with our article content on our websites:

WCAG 2.0 AAA 3.1.5: Ensure content is not too difficult to understand

This criteria passes when the language used meets a reading age threshold of under 16 years.  It is estimated that 55.2% of our content (including PDFs) fails to meet this criteria; however much of the matching content is related to legal, planning and other documentation which require formal language or technical terminology. As this test is for level AAA compliance we do not need to pass; however, we aim to make our articles as easy to read as possible.

WCAG 2.2 AAA 2.4.12: Ensure focus is not partly obscured

This criteria passes when elements that require focus when navigating with the keyboard are not partially obscured. It is estimated that 0.2% of our pages fail - these use a 'Quick exit to Google' button (for example Domestic Abuse) which partially obscures the Reachdeck icon on mobile screens. As this test is for level AAA compliance we do not need to pass; however we are considering how to achieve the 'quick exit' without obscuring the icon.

Other issues

Keyboard

Some elements are missing a role attribute which helps to correctly convey its function. For example, the Safe Spaces logo in the footer of each page does not indicate that this is a modal dialog. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value

Tables

There are some tables that have been used for layout purposes only. This can fail WCAG 2.0 success criterion 1.3.2: meaningful sequence.

Links

There are some links that don't clearly state their purpose, or are not described by its link text alone, or by the link text together with preceding page content. This fails WCAG 2 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context)

Forms

We have a large number of forms present on our websites, many of which were designed before the accessibility regulations came into effect. We are in the process of reviewing these forms in order to make them accessible, and ensuring that newer forms meet the regulations.

As the majority of forms consist of multiple pages it isn't possible for the automated tools to provide a figure for how many fail the tests that have been identified below.

WCAG A 2.0 1.3.1: Info and relationships

This criteria passes when a form has sufficient structure to enable users to navigate the document more easily. The following items indicate areas where our forms are failing to meet this criteria.

WCAG 2.1 AA 1.3.5: Identify the purpose of fields programatically

This criteria passes checks when input fields provide auto-completion guidance to enable browsers to help users fill in forms with known information such as names and email addresses. As forms are reviewed we will update relevant fields with the correct identifiers.

Labels should point to valid IDs

This test checks that any label with a for attribute points to a valid element with that id. Some forms implement a CAPTCHA functionality which include such labels. We are removing these CAPTCHA fields as we review and update those forms.

Labels should be present on form controls.

Some form controls do not define explicit text labels to make these accessible to people using screen readers.

Tables

Some tables in forms do not have clear headers identified, or do not include the scope attribute to tell assistive technologies which cells the header applies to. 

Semantics

Some words and phrases that are visually emphasized must be contained within semantically correct containers, for example where the <b> style tag has been used instead of the semantically correct <strong> tag.

WCAG 2.0 AAA 1.4.6: Aim for text to have very high contrast

This criteria passes when the contrast between text and background is at a ratio of 7:1 or higher. Older forms used earlier branding for labels and guidance which fail to meet this criteria. As this test is for level AAA compliance we do not need to pass; however we aim for this level of contrast throughout our sites and will improve the contrast as these forms are updated.

WCAG 2.0 AAA 3.2.5: Ensure links explain they open in a new tab

This criteria passes when links that open a new browser window or tab incidate that this will occur. As this test is for level AAA compliance we do not need to pass; however, we aim to always indicate this is the case and will resolve this issue as we review and updated those forms.

Images

Our automated tools do not detect the context of where and how images are used on our website. However, we have identified areas where we are likely to fail to meet the accessibility regulations.

WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1: Non-text content

• some decorative images may not be correctly identified or may incorrectly be identified as meaningful. i.e. have alternative text present when they shouldn't
• some meaningful images do not have alternative text that serves an equivalent purpose or the alternative text is not appropriate or meaningful
• some meaningful images are incorrectly identified as decorative as they do not have alternative text

WCAG 2.0 AA 1.4.5: Images of text

Images containing text are used in multiple locations throughout the website, for example within the News and Press section. These may not have accompanying content to provide an alternative way to understand that text.

PDFs and other documents

As with all local authorities, we publish many documents each year that are created both within our council and provided by third parties.

Many of the PDF documents published on our websites have accessiblity issues which are listed below.

WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1: Ensure PDFs are machine readable

This criteria passes when the document is one that can be easily processed by assistive technologies, allowing these tools to interpret text within them. It is estimated that 12.2% of documents fail to meet this criteria.

WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1: Info and relationships

This criteria passes when a PDF has sufficient structure to enable users to navigate the document more easily. Documents that fail tests include:

• headings have been used at all (69.3% fail)
• of those with headings that the first heading is a H1 (2.8% fail)
• when present other headings follow a logical order (5% fail)
• whether content has been properly tagged to indicate its relationship within the documents, such as pargraphs, lists and tables (44.5% fail)

WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.2: PDF titles

This criteria passes when a PDF has a formally defined, meaningful title. It is estimated that 9.1% of our documents fail to have a title, and of those that do, %0.6 are considered to be less than meaningful.

WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.5: Ensure long PDFs use bookmarks to aid navigation

This criteria passes when long PDFs incorporate bookmarks to enable users to easily navigate to sections of the document without needing to read through all of the content. It is estimated that 12.6% of documents fail this criteria.

WCAG 2.0 A 3.1.1: Ensure PDFs specify a default language

This criteria passes if a PDF has a language specified so that assistive technologies can accurately interpret their contents. It is estimated that 45.1% of our documents fail this criteria.