Some of our offices and libraries have audio induction loops. You may wish to check whether a loop is available before your visit, please see the contact us page.

Worcestershire County 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 listed in the Non accessible content section.

We are still auditing our site to be able to define the full list of accessibility issues and when these can be fixed.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• 1.2.2 Captions (Pre-recorded) fail 
  • some embedded videos do not have captions or a transcript 
• 1.2.5 Audio Description (Pre-recorded) fail 
  • some video content does not have an alternative for non-sighted users in the form of an audio description or transcript 
• 1.3.1 Info and relationships fails 
  • some tables do not have a caption element to describe their content,  
  • unordered list contains content that is not allowed 
  • text not contained in semantic HTML on the Birth registration page 2 form 
  • there are forms where the form elements are not grouped 
  • lists of related links should be written semantically as a list 
  • there are some pages where we use input fields that have no description 
• 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence fails 
  • some carousels read in an illogical order  
  • the A-Z features on the site use anchors to display filtered results, this means those on the keyboard don’t benefit from filtered content and have to always navigate the whole page 
• 1.4 Distinguishable fails 
  • some menu items and menus in the contacts area do not announce open and closed states 
  • some items on homepage carousels do not announce 
• 1.4.3 Colour contrast minimum fails 
  • in some areas of the site text falls on poor contrast background  
  • text on some focus elements and forms do not meet minimum contrast 
• 1.4.4 Resize text fail 
  • some text size in our website is very small and does not zoom 
• 1.4.10 Reflow fail 
  • scroll bars appear in some menus on smaller screen sizes hiding some menu content 
• 1.4.12 Text Spacing fail 
  • some text and interactive functions are close together meaning it might be difficult to use with poor dexterity 
• 2.1 Keyboard fails 
  • there are forms where the form elements are not grouped there are some pages where we use input fields that have no description 
  • filters on the news, events and language are actioned by focus and not select as it currently announces 
• 2.1.1 Keyboard fails 
  • unable to amend select options after navigating forward and backwards with a keyboard 
  • the A-Z features on the site use anchors to display filtered results, this means those on the keyboard don’t benefit from filtered content and have to always navigate the whole page 
  • carousels don’t announce logically for users, you get to the left arrow, then the carousel items and then after the right arrow 
  • filters on the news, events and language are actioned by focus and not select as it currently announces 
• 2.1.2 No keyboard trap fail 
  • when using Twitter feeds users on keyboard or screen readers are trapped in the twitter feed and cannot return to the site, this fails  
• 2.4.1 Bypass blocks fails
  • the A-Z features on the site use anchors to display filtered results, this means those on the keyboard don’t benefit from filtered content and have to always navigate the whole page 
  • on the contacts area you need to navigate through a multi-layered menu to get to contacts, it means there is considerable navigation to be able to select a different contact 
• 2.4.2 page titled fails 
  • some page titles throughout the site do not announce 
  • non-descriptive page title on the Birth registration page 1 form, 
  • non-descriptive page title on the Birth registration page 2 form 
• 2.4.3 Focus Order fail 
  • on the homepage users are announced the heading latest news, then a button for ‘view all news’, this is illogical 
• 2.4.4 link purpose in context fails 
  • some download links may not make sense when read on their own 
  • the same link text is used for links going to different destinations 
  • On Let’s Waste Less page the ‘Follow us on Facebook’ link announces the full url rather than descriptive 
• 2.4.6 Headings and labels fail 
  • some items on homepage carousels do not announce, this fails  
• 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) fail 
  • the menu bar, back to top and chatbot functions are floating objects that obscure content 
• 2.4.13 Focus Appearance fail 
  • not all elements on focus have an obvious change of appearance to those with low vision 
• 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) fail 
  • users with difficulties of dexterity will struggle with the target size of some buttons 
• 3.2.1 On focus fail 
  • on load of the website the cookie item receives focus which is confusing for keyboard navigation 
• 3.3.2 (labels or instructions) fail 
  • there are some pages where we use input fields that have no description 
• 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation fail 
  • some pages use collapsible content instead of navigating to a new page, which maybe confusing as its inconsistent navigation 
• 3.3.2 Label instructions fails 
  • filters on the news, events and language are actioned by focus and not select as it currently announces 
  • there are forms where the form elements are not grouped; this fails  
• 3.3.2 Label instructions fail 
  • filters on the news, events and language are actioned by focus and not select as it currently announces  
• 3.1.4 Abbreviations fail 
  • some pages have unexplained abbreviations  
• 3.1.5 Reading Level fail 
  • some pages have a considerable amount of text and complex language  
• 4.1.2 name, role, value fails 
  • there are some pages where we use input fields that have no description  
  • when the web chat is selected, it is not announced to screen reader as open or closed 
  • element announced as clickable is not clickable using a screen reader 
  • on the contacts page non-sighted users on screen reader inputs will not know when parts of the menu are open and closed to be able to use the navigation of the site 

We plan to fix the main usability issues by the 30 November 2023.

Issues with files

• there may be some files that are not fully accessible or in a singular file format

We use Silktide tool to monitor any issues regarding accessibility and aim to fix any issues that has been found as soon as possible. We use Adobe Pro's accessibility checker to check the PDF documents and Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker to check any Microsoft Office files. We have also created a guidance for our staff how to make accessible documents, for more information on this, please see the SCULPT for Accessibility page. We aim to provide alternative file formats to ensure all users can access content in documents.

Issues with third-party applications

We use some third-party applications which might not all be fully accessible, but the third-party companies are either in the process of reviewing their applications or have reviewed the applications and given a statement when the issues are going to be fixed. For more information, please see below.

Adult Services Provider Portal by ContrOCC.

Applying for a school place (Citizen Portal) by Capita.

Coordinate Sport Booking Website for school holiday activities, please read the Coordinate Sport accessibility statement

Coroners Portal by Civica.

CQC ratings by Care Quality Commission. 

Planning Applications Search Service by Swift Datapro Software Limited. Accessibility statement: We are assessing the options for upgrading the current portal to meet accessibility regulations. We would anticipate that an upgrade to the system will take place within the next six months.

Modern.GOV.UK this system houses documents related to Council meetings. Due to the nature of the meetings the documents could be maps or documents produced by third parties. We are aware that some of the documents are inaccessible. There is work taking place to ensure training is given to those who create the documents.

Online library services by Sirsi Corporation. Accessibility statement.

Online payments by Civica, please read the accessibility statement for CivicaPay eStore2.

Schools account payment by Civica. Accessibility statement: A fully accessible version is available upon upgrade. A business case has been submitted for approval of this.

Worcestershire Children First referral portal by Liquidlogic.

Worcestershire Business Events Portal by Tractivity.

Worcestershire Registration Service Customer Portal by CIVICA.

Worcestershire Adults Portal referral portal by Liquidlogic.

Disproportionate burden

We have not identified anything that qualifies as disproportionate burden as of yet, but we are still evaluating our site and may update this when we identify issues.

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

Regulations do not apply to the following content of a website or mobile application of a public sector body:

Archives

Content of websites and mobile applications qualifying as archives which are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations: Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service Catalogue of Archives

Live video

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

Older files

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. 

Online maps

Geographic Information System (GIS) maps, online maps, mapping services are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Pre-recorded videos

Pre-recorded time-based media published before 23 September 2020 are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

We use Silktide regularly to find accessibility issues and aim to fix them as soon as possible.

We also use SCULPT for Accessibility as a training model for our wider organisation to improve the creation of accessible documents.

We have conducted a full audit of our website to identify and fully understand all accessibility barriers our website may contain. We plan to re-test and and review the accessibility of the website and statement on a quarterly basis.

We are working closely with our website provider to address accessibility issues identified in this statement.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on February 2023. It was last reviewed on 20 November 2023.

This website was last tested during November 2023. The test was carried out by using our own testing methods, a web accessibility monitoring audit by Government Digital Service (GDS) and using third party input.

Manual testing

To do our testing we chose a selection of home pages, document pages, custom pages and a typical form to offer a cross-section of page types within the website.

• Homepage
• Contact
• News
• Events
• What we do in adult social care
• What is adult social care?
• Alcohol use
• SEND Local Offer
• Short break groups and activities
• Are you already fostering?
• Start or grow a business
• Search results
• Learning Services Worcestershire
• Let's Waste Less
• Find a Household Recycling Centre in Worcestershire
• Bilford Road (Worcester East)
• Ceremony venues
• Find a library
• Droitwich Spa Library

Manual user testing reports

• Hassell Inclusion live audit testing report February 2023 (PDF)
• Internal web team detailed audit June 2023 (PDF)
• Internal web team detailed audit September 2023 (PDF)

Automated testing

Worcestershire County Council do the following regular testing
Subscribe and pay for the Silktide tool for checking and monitoring the whole website's accessibility status regularly to identify any ongoing issues.

A sample of our website content is regularly being used to update and calculate the Worcestershire County Council website on the Silktide index.