Accessibility statement for Essex Water Your Future

Accessibility statement for Essex Water Your Future.

This accessibility statement applies to www.essexwateryourfuture.co.uk

This website is run by Essex County 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 400% 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

This website has two versions:

  • The map version: This is the interactive map for Essex Water You Future. This has all the graphical elements and might have some accessibility issues.
  • The text version: This is the alternative version of the visual illustration on the map version. This has the same information but without the graphical elements.

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

  • In the map version, the touch gestures are used. These would prove hard for the keyboard only users and screen reader users.
  • HTML5 or WAI-ARIA landmarks are used on the page, but not all content is included
  • Captions are not provided for some of the prerecorded audio content in synchronized media

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 the Equalities and Partnerships Team. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 20 days.

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, email the Accessibility Team at accessibility@essex.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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Essex 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.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Captions are not provided for some of the prerecorded audio content in synchronized media . This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2 (Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A))
  • Some contents are not included in the landmarks. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  • The map version uses some touch gestures to enhance the interactivity of the Visual illustration. This might cause difficulty to screen reader users and keyboard only users. This fails WCAG 2.2-2.5.1 (Keyboard - Touch gestures (e.g. swipe) are not relied on). However the text version of the website would help overcome this issue.

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

PDFs and other documents

Although some of Essex County Council’s older PDF’s are inaccessible and do not meet accessibility standards, we are working towards making as many PDF’s meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards as possible.

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.

We are prioritising making PDFs accessible that:

  • contain information on how users can access our service
  • are most frequently downloaded
  • contain information that has a statutory requirement

We have developed training and guidance to help all document creators develop accessible documents.

Live video

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15th March 2023. It was last reviewed on 15th March 2023.

This website was last tested on 15th March 2023. The testing was carried out by Essex County Council.