Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Westmorland and Furness Council This accessibility statement applies to https://www.barrowbc.gov.uk This website is run by Westmorland and Furness Council. We want as…

Accessibility statement for Westmorland and Furness Council

This accessibility statement applies to https://www.barrowbc.gov.uk

This website is run by Westmorland and Furness 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 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)

We’ve 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:

https://forms.barrowbc.gov.uk are no longer supported by the third party company. We are, however, in development of a new online forms package which will meet all accessibility standards.

The Benefit Calculator and Room Calculators are supplied by third party organisations. Although, hosted at Westmorland and, we don’t have control over these to make them accessible.

This website uses Google Maps and the Google logo image doesn’t have an alternative tag. This is out of our control to change.

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 customerservices@barrowbc.gov.uk
  • call 01229 876 543

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us using the contact details above for directions.

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: customerservices@barrowbc.gov.ukexplaining the issue and referring them to IT Services where they will be able to be investigated.

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

Our reception at the Cornwallis Street entrance has access to audio induction loop, or if you contact us before a visit we will arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreter. Alternatively you can email your enquiry to customerservices@barrowbc.gov.uk where a member our Customer Service Team will come back to you.

Find our how to contact us via our Contact Us page or follow us on our social media channels: Facebook and Twitter

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Westmorland and Furness 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 is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

  • The Benefits Calculator and Room Calculators do not meet the required contrast ratio for AA accessibility standards.
  • The online forms do not meet the required contrast ratio for AA accessibility standards. Furthermore the content is not full contained with landmarks nor does it have the correct tab index.
  • The Sub-Menu navigation is fully accessible and will work with screen readers and users controlling the website with keyboard tab focus. Having said this, the navigation doesn't visually display the navigation menu links as a mouse over requirement is needed.

We will issue an updated statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed.

Non-compliance with accessibility regulationsThere are some known accessibility issues with our website identified in our most recent accessibility audit completed April 2022, site last tested April 2022:

  • Some of our PDF’s may not be fully accessible. We are working to improve the accessibility of all PDF’s that are uploaded to the website and where possible, converting these to plain HTML.
  • The Google logo embedded within the Google Maps doesn’t have an alternative tag. This is out of our control to change.

Disproportionate burden

Third Party Software
The Room Calculator and Benefits Calculator are hosted through third party software which we cannot control.

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

PDF’s and other documentsThe Public Sector Body Accessibility Regulations 2018 do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish should meet accessibility standards.

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

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our accessibility roadmap shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website:

  • Replacing the current Online Forms Package with a new fully accessible package.
  • Improving the Tab Focus be reinventing the navigation system.
  • Conversion of essential PDF’s in HTML or fully accessibly PDFs

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28th April 2022. It was last reviewed on 28th April 2022.

This website was last tested on 28th April 2022. The test was carried out by Barrow Borough Council using SiteImprove and Axe DevTools.

We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test:

  • automated testing, Siteimprove accessibility checker crawls 100% of our web pages weekly
  • manual testing, we check a representative sample pages of from the busiest areas of our site and the home page