Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Bridgend County Borough Council.

This accessibility statement applies to www.bridgend.gov.uk

This website is run by Bridgend County Borough 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:

• some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• live video streams do not have captions
• Some error messages on ‘My Account’ (Third party application) are not visible by screen reader users
• The focus is not clear on Submit feedback buttons along the bottom
• The focus is not clear on Need help box and Back to the top button 

 

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:

• talktous@bridgend.gov.uk
• 01656 643643

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 15 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions:

• talktous@bridgend.gov.uk
• 01656 643643

 

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:

• talktous@bridgend.gov.uk

 

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.

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

Find out how to contact us.

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Bridgend County Borough 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 non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

 

Non-accessible content

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

 

Disproportionate burden

• Success Criterion 4.1.3 Status Messages - My Account (Third party application). When creating an error on the login page, several errors appeared below the form fields. These error messages had not been provided a role of alert, causing screen reader user to become unaware of which form field has created an error. The ‘My Account’ system and forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in March 2023.

 

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 our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We are in the process of upgrading Word forms to online forms within our ‘My Account’ service. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible online forms by March 2023.

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, we do not plan to fix Corporate Plans dated before 2018.

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.

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix issues at the earliest possible opportunity. Timescales for fixing each issue is listed in the relevant section above.

We also liaise with our suppliers where we are unable to fix any issues ourselves.

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 April 2022. It was last reviewed on 03 May 2022.

This website was last tested on 06 July 2020. The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC).