Accessibility Statement
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Birmingham City Council is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. The Birmingham Connect to Support website was updated on 28/07/2020.
This website should allow any user to:
- Change colours, contrast levels and size of text.
- Modify the line height or spacing of text.
- Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the page.
- Navigate most of website using 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 have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
This website is designed to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) – Level AA.
Using this Website
Accessible Features
This website uses a widget that contains several Accessible features that can be used by users with specific requirements. The widget is available on the top right-hand side of the header menu.
These features include: -
Contrast & Font Size
Changing the contrast and font sizes of text can increase legibility for some users.
This website has three colour contrast settings, firstly, the “default colour scheme” which provides a suitable level of contrast for most users and satisfies the accessibility standards. However, if a user feels the colour contrast is too low in areas the website also contains alternative styles - “high contrast scheme” and “high contrast yellow scheme”. Both these styles satisfy all accessibility standards for colour contrast.
A user can change the contrast settings by clicking on the icons at the top right of screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to default colour scheme”, “Switch to high contrast scheme”, and “Switch to high contrast yellow scheme” respectively for the same result.
To increase the font size, click on the icons at the top right of the screen. For a user using voice recognition please say, “Switch to normal font size”, “Switch to big font size” and “Switch to biggest font size” respectively for the same result. The user can also use the browser’s own zoom facility. The website will work up to 200%
Further information on accessibility options
The RNIB has a webpage with information about useful accessible apps, gadgets and tools to help blind and partially sighted people in day-to-day life - RNIB Assistive aids and technology.
Accessible Alternatives
Efforts have been made to create accessible alternatives for content that does not meet standards where possible.
Where appropriate we may be able to deliver content to users in accordance with their needs.
Please see “Make a request for Accessible Content” section for further details.
Make a request for Accessible Content
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille; Please fill out details in Contact us form or use the appropriate details, below.
Purpose of Links
Birmingham City Council will use links to navigate to content on the website. External links will open in a new window.
Where possible the action of an external link will be described by extra description within the link text, so all users can understand the link’s purpose. However, in certain areas of the website adding this extra description will become a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
We have provided the following definition for external links: -
External Links will be used for any content that has known limitations with assistive technologies OR navigates a user away from secure platforms. In summary, this means the following items are considered External links –
- Non-HTML Documentation (See “Issues with PDFs and other documents”)
- Redirection away from secure platforms
- External websites that are not part of Birmingham City Council.
How Accessible is this Website?
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- This website uses JavaScript to deliver certain features. Please make sure you have JavaScript turned on within your browser to deliver full features.
- Keyboard navigation does not work as expected for the Rate Me Feature, and My Information Booklet.
- Keyboard navigation does not open the search filters in the marketplace.
- Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
- Live video streams do not have captions;
- Pages that contain the words “/s4s/” within the URL do not currently work with High Contrast Styles;
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- The default contrast should work on these pages
Contact us and Complaints Procedure
We are always looking for ways to improve the Birmingham CtS website. If you find any problems that are not listed within this statement, or believe we are not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations please contact us on using the following
Enforcement Procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Services (EASS)
Technical Information about this Website’s Accessibility
Birmingham City Council are committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed in the following section, “Non-Accessible Content”.
Non-accessible content
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
During our last review of this website it has come to our attention that there are areas of the website that fail to meet WCAG 2.1: -
Issues with Keyboard Navigation
The "How do you rate this page?" smiley faces that redirect a user to the feedback form do not work as expected. However, it doesn't affect data entry.
My Information booklet cannot be activated using a keyboard.
On Search pages, "Filter Your Results" progressive disclosure feature is not activated by keyboard.
Please see “What are we doing to improve accessibility?” section for further details.
Screen-Reader reading issues with Interactive Forms
It has come to our attention that most forms cannot be read properly using screen-readers.
Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships).
Please see “What are we doing to improve accessibility?” section for further details.
Issues with PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up to be accessible for a screen reader.
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with Easy Read Information on how users can access our services. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Issues with images, video and audio
Live video streams have captions auto added by YouTube, not all videos are currently checked for the accuracy of their captioning.
Resolutions of Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Since this statement was last updated the following accessibility issues have been resolved
RESOLVED: Issues with Text
Some link text doesn’t make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’).
We are constantly reviewing content before it is published.
RESOLVED: Screen-Reader reading issues with Status Messages
Since the last review of this statement all status messages alerting users to changes within content are being read out. This means all screen-reader users should be notified of changes within this website. This passes WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3 Status Message.
Finding these details can still be achieved by navigating to the first line of content after the search results page.
Disproportionate Burden
There are no issues that are considered a disproportionate burden.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Web Content that is not subject to the standards referenced in this policy statement are as follows: -
- Content that is archived.
- Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
- Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
- Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services Birmingham provides.
- Live Audio and Video
- Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
- Online Maps and mapping services
- Third Party Content that is not under direct control of Birmingham or main website provider – Google Translate, Social Media links
What are we doing to improve accessibility?
Birmingham City Council is fully committed to meeting all the accessibility criteria specified in the regulatory provisions. We plan to identify and fix issues in accordance with the timescales shown for each non-compliance area. Areas of this website that fail to meet these standards will have fixes prioritised according to usage data.
Birmingham City Council will make continuous assessments of this website’s content and update this statement when issues have been resolved.
Our current estimation for full accessibility fixes from our website provider is no later than 31st December 2021.
Policy Review
This statement was prepared on 27/07/2020. Birmingham City Council will review this policy every year. This policy was last reviewed on 20/07/2021.