Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the website, https://birmingham.connecttosupport.org/

This website is run by Birmingham City 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 using browser or device settings;
• Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen;
• Navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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.

This website is designed to be compliant with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (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.
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software;
• There are accessibility issues with the Search Directory and forms;
• Links aren’t always underlined;
• PDF booklet does not have a Drag/Drop alternative for arranging custom pages
• Live video streams do not have captions;
• Pages that contain the words “/s4s/” within the URL do not currently work with High Contrast Styles;

• • 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

• Email:- StakeholderEngagement@birmingham.gov.uk 

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.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (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 2.2: -

Landmark issues

Some landmarks that appear on forms and directory pages are not appropriately labelled. This may cause issues for some screen reader users. Most landmarks that are used are correctly labelled and appear inside top-level landmarks.  This fails Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).

Top-Level landmarks are used correctly on all page templates including the Search Directories

We would advise screen-reader users to use heading levels and bypass blocks to navigate around pages.  We are currently reviewing these pages and providing feedback to our web developers.

Mobile issues

It has been discovered during testing that there are specific accessibility issues for mobile devices.

The hamburger menu does not have a visible accessible label. Saying “Main Menu” using voice recognition software will not open the hamburger menu. This fails success criteria 2.5.3: Label in Name (AA) of the accessibility standards. For a workaround, please say “Toggle Navigation” to open/close the menu.

Our web developers are currently working on a fix which will be deployed shortly.

Keyboard navigation issues

There are also known keyboard focus issues within these pages. These pages fail WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.4.7 Focus Visible and 2.4.1 Bypass blocks.

Keyboard focus will be set to use a web-browser’s default focus indicator.

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: -

1. Content that is archived.
2. Content on intranets and extranets published before 23/09/2019
3. Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that were published before 23/09/2018.
4. Non-HTML Documentation (PDFs, Microsoft Office files) that are not essential to the services Birmingham provides.
5. Live Audio and Video
6. Pre-recorded Audio and Video published before 23/09/2020
7. Online Maps and mapping services
8. 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?

The new version of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG 2.2 were published on 5^th October 2023.

This will replace WCAG 2.1 as the legally required accessibility standard in October 2024.

Issues have been found with WCAG 2.2,  we are working with our website provider to ensure we meet conformance by 30^th November 2024.  

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was initially prepared on the 27^th July 2020. It will be reviewed every year in accordance with the regulations. It was last reviewed on that 4^th October 2024.

This website was last tested on 14^th August 2024.

To prepare this statement an accessibility test was carried out by People Places Lives QA Team. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tools by our website team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.