Buckinghamshire Council is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. The following accessibility statement is written for the Early Years extranet.

This extranet should allow any user to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and size of text.
• Modify the line height or spacing of text.
• Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page.
• Navigate most of the extranet using just a keyboard.
• Navigate most of the extranet using speech recognition software
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader

We have also made the extranet text as simple as possible to understand.

This extranet is designed to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) – Level AA.

Using this website

Accessible Features

This extranet uses a widget that contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.

These features include: -

Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.

This website has two colour contrast settings, firstly, the “default colour scheme” which provides a suitable level of contrast for most users and satisfies the accessibility standards. However, if a user feels the colour contrast is too low in areas the website also contains a “high contrast scheme” which satisfies all accessibility standards for colour contrast.

A user can change the contrast settings by clicking on the icons at the top right of screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to colour theme” and “Switch to high contrast theme” respectively for the same result.

To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to normal font size”, “Switch to big font size” and “Switch to biggest font size” respectively for the same result. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The extranet will work at least to 200%

The RNIB has a webpage with information on options that computers have which can make it easier for people with low or no vision to use them. - RNB Accessibility Options

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 equalities@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

We'll consider your request and get back to you within 20 working days.

How Accessible is this Extranet?

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

• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Live video streams do not have captions.

Purpose of Links

Buckinghamshire Council will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.

Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose.

We have provided the following definition for external links: -

External Links will be used for any content that has known limitations with assistive technologies OR navigates a user away from secure platforms. In summary, this means the following items are considered External links –

• Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
• Redirection away from secure platforms
• External websites that are not part of Buckinghamshire Council.

Technical Information about this Extranet’s Accessibility

Buckinghamshire Council are committed to making its mini-sites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This extranet is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed in the following section, “Non-Accessible Content”.

Non-compliance with accessibility regulations

During our last review of this website it has come to our attention that there are areas of the website that fail to meet WCAG 2.1: -

1. Screen-Reader reading issues with Status Messages

It has come to our attention that status messages alerting users to changes within content are not being read out. This means it will be difficult for screen-reader users to become notified of changes within our extranet. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3 Status Message.

Finding these details can still be achieved by navigating to the first line of content after the search results page.

Our website provider is currently updating our website templates and we plan to have the fix in place shortly.

2. Screen-Reader reading issues with Link text context

It has come to our attention that not all links describe their purpose using link-text alone. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4.

We are reviewing the content on our website. When new content is published, we will make sure the link description is available within link text alone. We will make sure that all links are underlined.

3. Screen-Reader reading issues with landmarks

We have an issue flagging on some of our pages in regards to how distinguishable our header is from other elements on the page. We are reviewing this to see how much of an impact it will have on the user and how it can be resolved. This is a potential failure at WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.

Non-Accessible Content

If accessibility issues are discovered for this website, we will list all known issues in this section. 

Disproportionate Burden

There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.

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

Web Content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement are as follows:

1. Content that is archived.
2. Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
3. Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
4. Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services Buckinghamshire Council provides.
5. Live Audio and Video
6. Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
7. Online Maps and mapping services
8. Third Party Content that is not under direct control of Buckinghamshire Council or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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: webcontent@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS)

What are we doing to improve accessibility?

Buckinghamshire Council are fully committed to meeting all the accessibility criteria specified in the regulatory provisions. We plan to identify and fix issues in accordance with the timescales shown for each non-compliance area. Areas of this extranet that fail to meet these standards will have fixes prioritised according to usage data. Due to the amount and complexity of certain issues fixes may be applied after the September 2020 deadline. Buckinghamshire Council will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.  

Policy Review

This statement was prepared on 25 August 2020. This policy was last reviewed on 24 November 2020.