Accessibility statement
This accessibility statement applies to newsroom.telford.gov.uk, which are managed by Telford & Wrekin 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 200% 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).
Web accessibility toolbar
The ReachDeck toolbar helps to provide accessible web content for all, allowing you to change the format of our content to suit your needs. We also use plain English as much as we can to make the content easier to understand.
ReachDeck toolbar features
- Text-to-speech - reads on-screen text out loud with read along highlighting.
- Translation - allows words to be translated into multiple languages.
- Picture dictionary - displays word meaning through illustration.
- MP3 maker - converts online content into MP3 files for easy listening.
- Screen mask - a reading pane reduces visual stress and improves focus.
- Text magnifier - magnifies text and reads it out loud. This increases accessibility of even the smallest web text.
- Webpage simplifier - creates a simplified view of a webpage and removes distracting content.
- Text colour and text size - change the size of the text on the screen and switch the font.
To start using the ReachDeck toolbar, simply click on the ReachDeck icon that appears at the bottom, right hand side of this page. Once the toolbar is launched, you can then personalise the settings to suit your individual needs and preferences.
How accessible is this website?
Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:
- some pages and document attachments are not clearly written
- some images do not have good alternative text
- some buttons are not correctly identified
- images contain text which you may not be able to read
- links don't make sense on their own
- PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen readers
- videos don’t have captions or audio description
- you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
- you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
- live video streams do not have sub-titles.
Feedback and contact information
If you would like to comment on the accessibility of this website, or request any of the information in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please complete our online website feedback form.
We aim to get back to you within fourteen 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 Web Services team using our online website feedback form.
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’).
Visit the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) website, if you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint.
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
We provide a text relay service for people with hearing impairment or speech impediment. The number is 18001 (01952) 380000.
Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Visit the Telford & Wrekin Council website to find out how to book a BSL interpreter.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Telford & Wrekin 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 and exemptions listed on this page.
Visit the W3C website to view the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Images
Some images don’t have a text alternative (alt text), so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). We plan to resolve this issue by April 2025. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Some images contain text, so people with dyslexia or using a screen reader will not be able to read the information. This doesn't meet WCAG success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text). We plan to resolve this issue by April 2025. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Links
On some pages the same link text is used for different link destinations. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context). We plan to resolve this issue by April 2025. When we publish new pages we’ll make sure link text meets accessibility standards.
On some pages the purpose of each link can't be determined from the link text alone. This doesn't meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context). We plan to resolve this issue by April 2025. When we publish new pages we’ll make sure link text meets accessibility standards.
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and other documents are not formatted so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, role value). Any new documents we publish should meet accessibility standards where they are required for essential services or users who are likely to have disabilities or impairments. Essential documents will be reviewed and made accessible by April 2025.
Language
On some pages the language has not been set in a way that can be understood by a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page). We plan to resolve this issue by April 2025.
Headings
On some pages headings don't cascade inside the features on the page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.10 (Section Headings). We plan to resolve this issue by April 2025.
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 services e.g. PDFs that give users complex information in a clear format, using illustrations etc, or forms that were published as Word documents. By April 2025, 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. For example annual reports or documents used as an archive reference for work conducted in that year. 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. All of our pre-recorded and edited film clips will feature subtitles/captions or a transcript. Visit the Legislation website for more information on exemptions for accessibility regulation.
Embedded clips from YouTube
When embedding YouTube content, it automatically generates non-compliant HTML5 code. We’re currently monitoring this to see if it has a negative effect on the overall user experience. At the time of publication that is not the case, but linked film clips will not function without the non-compliant code.
We aim to meet the needs of all visitors to our site, but we don’t yet have a way of presenting geographical information (maps and site plans etc.) in a fully achievable and accessible format. Currently all accessible map solutions would be impossible to implement for all residents due to both resource and installation issues. As new technologies emerge we will revaluate this topic.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We plan to identify and fix issues according to the timescales shown for each area above.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 30 May 2024. It was last reviewed on 30 May 2024. This website was last tested on 30 May 2024. The test was carried out by Telford & Wrekin Council. We tested a large sample size of page types and varieties from our site, with the aim to make sure all types of user journey and the most popular tasks were represented, e.g. the main homepage and also the content listed under service landing pages.
We complete our accessibility audits by testing how the site performs when accessed using accessibility tools such as Siteimprove (to test coding elements) and WebAIM Contrast Checker (to test the contrast levels between colours with hexadecimal accuracy).