Halton Local Offer Accessibility Statement

By law we are required to provide an accessibility statement. Accessibility statement for https://localoffer.haltonchildrenstrust.co.uk/

Using this website

This website is run by Children and Young People Policy Team for Halton 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 aren’t fully accessible:

some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
some section icon buttons aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software.
some headings don’t appear in the correct nested order.

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 Children and Young Policy Team at haltonlocaloffer@halton.gov.uk We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working 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, contact us by haltonlocaloffer@halton.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)

Compliance status

Children and Young People Policy Team (Halton 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.

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.

Non accessible content

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

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

Home page has no visible focus on the icon links in the page body, such as the icon link above the ‘HELP, SUPPORT & ADVICE’ link. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
Home page at 400% zoom, the explanatory text in the cookie banner is no longer available. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Home page at 400% zoom and in mobile view (320×256), the placeholder text in the search bar, ‘Type what you are looking for here…’, is partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Home page at 400% zoom the options below ‘Grayscale’ in the accessibility toolbar are no longer available. In mobile view, the options below ‘Light Background’ are no longer available, with the ‘Light Background’ option partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Contact page at 400% zoom, the explanatory text in the cookie banner is no longer available. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Contact page at 400% zoom the options below ‘Grayscale’ in the accessibility toolbar are no longer available. In mobile view, the options below ‘Light Background’ are no longer available, with the ‘Light Background’ option partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Contact page at 400% zoom and in mobile view (320×256), the phone numbers in the contact information table do not have sufficient colour contrast. At 400% zoom and in mobile view, the email addresses in the table also do not have sufficient colour contrast. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum).
Policy Team/Local Offer Contact Form there is no visible focus on the ‘Learn more’ link and the focus is barely visible on the ‘Allow cookies’ button in the cookie pop-out. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
Policy Team/Local Offer Contact Form there is no visible focus on any of the page content, except for the CAPTCHA widget and the input boxes. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
Help, Advice & Support page at 400% zoom, the explanatory text in the cookie banner is no longer available. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Help, Advice & Support page at 400% zoom and in mobile view (320×256), the placeholder text in the search bar, ‘Type what you are looking for here…’, is partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Help, Advice & Support page at 400% zoom the options below ‘Grayscale’ in the accessibility toolbar are no longer available. In mobile view, the options below ‘Light Background’ are no longer available, with the ‘Light Background’ option partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Training & Events page at 400% zoom, the explanatory text in the cookie banner is no longer available. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Training & Events page at 400% zoom and in mobile view (320×256), the placeholder text in the search bar, ‘Type what you are looking for here…’, is partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Training & Events page at 400% zoom the options below ‘Grayscale’ in the accessibility toolbar are no longer available. In mobile view, the options below ‘Light Background’ are no longer available, with the ‘Light Background’ option partly cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 Reflow.
Some of our PDFs are not fully accessible to screen reader software as they lack page titles which describe the purpose. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.2 Page Titled.
Some non-text content (images) within our PDFs may lack alternative text functions which describe the image. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 Non-text Content.
Some PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software as they do not have sufficient colour contrast between background, foreground and/or on subheadings on some content to help people with moderate visual impairments read it. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum).

Senior Leaders in the Halton SEND Strategic Improvement Board are currently engaged in discussions regarding the future platform of the Halton Local Offer.

This will result in an update/redesign of the website, and we will update the statement as soon as we have all the relevant information.

Downloadable documents

We aim to provide content in html format where possible. Where we have to use different formats this will be because:

the information is too long or too complex for a webpage;
the content is an official Council document, for example a Council strategy documents or meeting minutes;
the user is likely to want to print the content, for example a brochure;
the document is needed in its original format – for example, leaflets, timetables;
documents are from other agencies or other systems – for example, government publications or reports.

We are working with colleagues, partners and service providers so that they can provide accessible information for publication and to improve the accessibility of our documents.

Download document viewing software

Where possible we try to provide downloadable documents in the following formats:

• PDF – A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided);

• XLS/XLSX – A reader can be downloaded free from the Microsoft website – XLS viewer (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided);

• DOC/DOCX – A reader can be downloaded free from the Microsoft website – DOC viewer (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided).

If you have difficulties obtaining information from a PDF, you can use Adobe’s web-based conversion service to produce an HTML version. However, please be aware that the standard of HTML produced is not very good.

We appreciate that it is frustrating to be unable to access information. Please bear with us whilst we continue to work on improving the accessibility of our site.

If any downloadable document presents a barrier to accessing information, please contact us with details of the document in question, the problems encountered and what we could do to help.

How we test this website

The latest tests were conducted on the 27 March 2024, 10 July 2024 and the 17 July 2024 by the Cabinet Office, Government Digital Service. The tests were to ensure that we met our legal obligation of the website accessibility regulations that came into force on 23 September 2018. The outcome of these external and independent tests was that the website was not compliant in some areas. Having been made aware of these the Halton Local Offer website was updated and amended; accordingly, any outstanding issues are listed in this Accessibility Statement.

Online services are re-assessed for accessibility whenever a major modification is undertaken; ‘page content’ is checked every time it is updated. Our current estimate is that further accessibility fixes to address non-accessible content on this site, will be undertaken during 2024 to 2025. The tools that are used are available as “free” from https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools and the check list provided by Gov.uk: https://alphagov.github.io/wcag-primer/checklist.html#checklist.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Accessibility needs are actively considered as part of designing any new content, transactions and services. We follow GDS content design principles where possible and we understand the importance of inclusive design https://www.gov.uk/guidance/content-design

We respond to customer feedback and use this to make things better wherever possible.

We are working with all teams, services, partners and providers areas across Halton to ensure that all future documents and software adheres to accessibility regulations.

We are in the process of removing or renewing PDF documents and creating accessible online application forms where this may be needed.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 1 July 2024, updated on 16 July 2024 and revised on 18 July 2024.

Reading the website

We aim to make our website as easy to read as possible and follow the Plain English principles. We are constantly working to improve our website and make it easier to understand.