This website is run by The Duntisbournes Parish Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. Our aim is that 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. The BBC also has a useful webpage My Web My Way which provides invaluable help in changing accessibility settings on your computer and devices.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible, for example:
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different form then you can contact us using the contact details found at our Feedback and Contact Us webpage. We will consider your request to identify how we can help and get back to you as soon as is practical.
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 then please email us using the contact details found at our Feedback and Contact Us webpage.
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
The Duntisbournes Parish Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
The following software protocols (when used in combination with any particular operating system, web browser, assistive technologies or plug-ins) are relied upon by the Duntisbourne Parish Website to achieve the necessary accessibility standards compliance:
• HTML
• CSS
• Java Script
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
It is believed recent work on the Duntisbournes Website to meet WGAG 2 requirements determines this partial compliance categorisation with the majority of the specified requirements having been met as far as is practical within our operating constraints. Wherever possible we have endeavoured to meet the ‘letter’ of the requirement as far as is possible and reasonable but in all areas we have sought to meet the ‘spirit’ of the requirement in full.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
The language of the document is not identified. This functionality is important because identifying the language of the page allows screen readers to read the content in the appropriate language. This fails WCAG 2 success criteria 3.1.1 Language of Page (Level A).
Very low contrast between foreground and background colours of the ‘Search’ Box are recorded which can create difficulty for users with low vision. This fails WCAG 2 success criteria 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (Level AA). Increasing the size of the window (magnification) can however help to mitigate poor contrast issues.
Disproportionate burden
The Duntisbournes Parish Website is hosted by Voice Online Communities (managed by Cambridge Open Systems) which offer a free of charge website builder and hosting service to community, not-for-profit and voluntary organisations – these including parish councils. This is a cost effective solution enabling the Parish meet its statutory obligations whilst operating within a small and finite annual budget (circa £2500 pa). A clear restriction arising from this approach is that there is limited scope to adjust webpage template parameters provided by Voice Online Communities which are largely based on discrete Bootstrap CSS Framework themes.
The cost of moving the Parish website from Voice Online Communities to a fully WCAG 2.1 compliant web platform would likely consume approximately half of the Parish Council’s annual budget (at both immediate cost and opportunity cost) and incur and annual recurring maintenance and audit cost liability thereafter. It is the Parish Councils considered opinion that, whilst full WCAG 2.1 compliance remains a clear aspiration, the current costs involved would represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
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. Where such documents have previously existed, these have been re-written as HTML pages for ease of accessibility for all users of this website. The vast majority of documents filed on this website are held in pdf format and are retained for historical purposes in the interest of open and transparent governance.
All new PDFs or Word documents we publish will have been created to meet accessibility standards.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 1 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020.
This website was last tested on 18 September 2020. The test was carried out by a Duntisbournes Parish Council representative adopting the self-test protocol using the Government’s guidance ‘Doing a basic accessibility check if you cannot do a detailed one’. Beyond this basis check, individual webpages were audited using the free online WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool by WEBAIM to help identify, and where possible rectify, critical non-compliance issues.