Our Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to somerset.gov.uk

This website is run by Somerset 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 have 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 buttons on our online forms are not correctly identified
• our charts and are not accessible to screen reader software
• many documents are not accessible
• we use tables to sort certain information on the site which may not be fully accessible to assistive technology
• some of our pages and online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard or assistive technology
• some documents have insufficient colour contrast
• some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
• live video streams may not have captions
• the skip to the main content link may not work on all pages when using a screen reader
• some headings or labels may not accurately describe their topic or purpose
• some email subscription forms may not be accessible to screen reader software

Somerset Council was formed as a unitary authority in April 2023. Any accessibility non-compliance on websites, forms or online information tools that were previously maintained by the former district authorities will be addressed as they are migrated onto our platforms. Some of the third-party tools used by these websites will be decommissioned as part of this work, so while we will not be able to fix those issues in the short term, in the long term we will eliminate them. If you have any issues accessing any of these legacy systems, please contact us using the details listed below.

Third party tools featured on the Somerset Council website

• Adelante Smartpay – a system that takes payments
• AllPay – a system that takes payments
• Capita Pay360 – a system that takes payments
• Granicus govService – a system for creating forms
• Goss ICM – a forms and content management system
• Firmstep – a system for creating forms
• Civica forms – a system for creating forms
• Victoria Forms – a system for creating forms
• Indigo Forms – a system for creating forms
• OneNetwork – a mapping tool
• iShare – a mapping tool
• INRX – a mapping tool
• Mod.Gov app – a system for creating meeting agendas and documents
• Gov.delivery – a newsletter system
• Abavus – a system for displaying waste services information
• MI Permit – a parking permit system
• IDOX – a planning search engine
• Acolaid – a planning search engine
• SEND Portal – a system for gathering educational information
• Citizen Space – a resident consultation system
• SLA Online – a support service for education

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like large print, audio recording or braille:

• use our contact us page
• Phone: 0300 123 2224

We will consider your request and get back to you within 10 working days.

For people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired, or have a speech impediment, please contact us by text message on 07862 122246 for a text relay service.

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

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 are not meeting accessibility requirements, you can contact us by using our feedback form at the bottom of most pages, or by using our contact us page.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Somerset 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

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.

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

• 1.3.1 Info and relationships (A)
  • Many PDFs may be missing tags and headings
  • Some form controls are missing a label
  • Some tables are missing a header
  • The text on some pages has not been correctly defined as a heading
• 1.3.2 Meaningful sequence (A)
  • Many PDFs contain content that cannot be tabbed through in a meaningful order.
• 1.3.5 Identify input purpose (AA)
  • Some fields do not identify their purpose correctly
• 1.4.1 Use of colour (A)
  • Text links are currently only distinguished by colour on some pages
• 1.4.3. Contrast (minimum) (AA)
  • Many PDFs do not have sufficient text contrast
• 1.4.5 Images of text (AA)
  • Some pages use images of text instead of HTML text to convey information
• 2.1.1. Keyboard (A)
  • Our maps do not function well for keyboard users
• 2.4.1 Bypass blocks (A)
  • Some Mailpoet email subscription frames do not contain a readable title
• 2.4.2 Page titled (A)
  • PDFs may not have a correctly formatted or appropriate title
• 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context) (A)
  • Some links do not accurately explain their purpose
  • Some pages contain the same link text for different destinations
• 2.4.6 Headings and labels (AA)
  • Some headings and labels may not accurately describe their topic or purpose
• 2.5.8 Target size (minimum) (AA)
  • Some interactive controls are not far enough apart from each other
• 3.1.1 Language of page (A)
  • Many PDFs do not specify a default language

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Non-HTML documents published before September 2018 do not need to be accessible – unless users need them to use a service.

As these types of documents are exempt from the regulations, we do not currently have any plans to make them accessible, but will replace them with accessible documents if newer versions are published.

If you need to access information in one of these document types, you can contact us and ask for an alternative format.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

To improve the accessibility of our website we are:

• testing and monitoring web accessibility by using Silktide
• testing and monitoring web accessibility manually
• making our PDF documents (created after 22 September 2018) as accessible as possible
• where possible, create HTML pages rather than PDF documents
• creating online forms rather than PDF documents
• replacing or upgrading third-party applications or systems to include WCAG 2.1 AA compliance

We are continuously working on our website somerset.gov.uk and associated Somerset Council websites, which will improve the overall accessibility and usability.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 09 February 2024 and was updated on 12 September 2024 with a current list of non-accessible content. It is being continuously reviewed as we work to create a complete list of non-accessible content.