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Accessibility

Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for www.herefordshire.gov.uk

This accessibility statement applies to all websites owned and maintained by Herefordshire Council

This website is run by Hoople Group IT services.

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 300% 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)

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand and are constantly reviewing and updating the website to improve this.

Using this website

We are committed to providing a website that is as accessible and usable to as many people as possible. For example, that means you should be able to adapt the site to suit your needs, as follows:

We offer the following accessibility feature on our site:

  • 'Skip to content'
    At the top of every page is a link that is spoken by screen-reading software and will appear when 'tabbed to' using a keyboard. It is the first link and, when selected, will skip past the rest of the menu items and start at the beginning of the main page content
Headings and navigation menus

HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles etc.

Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists.

This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily. We also provide consistent navigation.

Opening PDF documents

Some downloadable documents on this website are in Portable Document Format (PDF). If you don't have the software on your computer to open a PDF, the Adobe Acrobat website allows you to download the free Adobe Reader needed to do this. The current version of Acrobat Reader has improved accessibility features and includes the facility to read the text out loud.

Accessibility and usability of our site

This website aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard.

Useful links

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) is a free and open source screen reader for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Providing feedback via synthetic speech and Braille, it enables blind or vision impaired people to access computers running Windows for no more cost than a sighted person.

Free site translation with Google Translate or Yahoo Babelfish.

Parts of this website are not fully accessible

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

  • The text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • Live video streams do not have captions
  • There's a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our 'contact us' page
Table headers
  • Some tables with many columns do not display properly on mobile devices and require left or right scrolling or using the device on its side. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow)
  • Some tables which contain information do not have clear headers. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 2.4.6 (Headers and tables)
  • Some table headings do not have scope. This fails WCAG 2.1 A success criterion 1.3.1 (Information and Relationships)

We are looking at fixes for these issues by the end of April 2026.

Feedback and contact information

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 or if you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.

If you cannot view the map on our 'contact us' page, call or email us for directions.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Find out more on the Relay UK website.

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

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Herefordshire 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 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

  • Non-compliances - this means the content in question is in scope of the regulations, but there's an accessibility problem with it
  • An exemption - this means the inaccessible content is out of scope of the regulations, or it'd be a disproportionate burden for you to make it accessible

Non-accessible content

While Herefordshire Council strive to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website.

For herefordshire.gov.uk
  • Map-based resources
PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don't meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they're accessible to a screen reader.

The accessibility regulations don't require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

We have committed to redesigning our entire digital service by April 2026. This will include producing a delivery plan to resolve non-compliant issues ahead of the deadline.

All PDFs will be reviewed as part of our CMS redesign and we will then reassess the situation in April 2026.

We are not required by the regulations to fix documents provided by third-parties that are neither funded nor developed by, nor under the control of Herefordshire Council, for example government leaflets and documents supporting planning applications.

From external websites directed to from herefordshire.gov.uk

Some parts of this site link to or use content provided by other websites and we cannot guarantee that these resources are fully accessible. Examples of these are:

  • Access PaySuite - internet payments and secure card
  • Chipside Parking Portal
  • Elgin roadworks map
  • Eploy - job vacancies
  • ESS Prism - library catalogue
  • Flexiroute - school transport
  • Homepoint - housing system
  • Intec - reporting fraud
  • Gov Delivery
  • Granicus - form processes
  • Just Park
  • Modern.gov - councillors information
  • Planning Portal
  • Servelec Synergy (Enrol, FISO) - for applying for a school place
  • Talk Community
  • Unicard Ltd - bus pass applications
Interactive tools and transactions

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and 'skinned' to look like our website.

Navigation and accessing information

It is not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.

It is not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.

Exemptions

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

How we test our website

This website is tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.2 level A and level AA on an ongoing basis This website is formally tested on a weekly basis using Siteimprove for automated tests and check manually any highlighted issues by the web team.

We also use WAVE and Silktide extensions for manual sampling of pages to help identify any issues that arise.

The latest Silktide report shows we have an overall score of 93% for accessibility compliance. Checks are carried out on the following three levels:

  • 96.6% compliancy for level A WCAG 2.2 checks
  • 92% compliance for level AA WCAG 2.2 checks
  • 85% compliancy for level AAA WCAG 2.2 checks.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 September 2000.

It was last reviewed on 4 April 2025.