We want everyone who visits our website to be able to access the full range of services available, regardless of their skill or technology.
How accessible the site is
We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible.
There are known issues with the:
- HTML: the underlying code used to create the website
- CSS: used to describe how HTML is shown on the pages
- JavaScript: a development language used to program some areas of the site
- 3rd party functionality: areas of the site which are developed by external 3rd party companies
- content: this includes web page content or documents
What to do if you have problems or queries
If you have any accessibility problems or feedback, please email us at webadmin@durham.gov.uk.
If you need to contact us about any other issues, please use our contact us page.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Durham 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.
Under the Equality Act 2010 we must ensure we do not unlawfully discriminate in our service delivery and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities where necessary. We are constantly working to improve the accessibility and usability of our site.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Non compliance with the accessibility regulations
Information about which areas of the site fail.
Roadmap
A program of work is now underway to address issues, involving both our in-house developers and designers, and the companies who provide 3rd party functionality.
We aim to resolve the following by September 2021:
Main site
- images: decorative / spacer images are missing a null alt attribute, failing success criterion 1.1.1
- images: some images do not have an alt tag, failing success criterion 1.1.1
- stylesheets: some content is in stylesheet, making it unavailable to screen readers and users who are not using the stylesheet, failing success criterion 1.3.1
- background colours: some text / background colours do not have enough contrast, failing success criterion 1.4.3
- transitions: stylesheet animations or transitions in interactions are used without giving the user a way to turn them off, failing success criterion 2.3.3
- document titles: some documents have no title failing success criterion 2.4.2
- outline / border style: the stylesheet makes it difficult to see the dotted link focus outline, failing success criterion 2.4.7
- forms: some have blank labels or titles, which fails success criterion 4.1.2
- elements: some elements do not contain text or an img with an alt attribute, failing success criteria 2.4.4, 2.4.9 and 4.1.2
Catalogue
- links: these do not have underlining making it hard for colour-blind users to see them, failing success criterion 1.4.1
- background colours: some text / background colours do not have enough contrast, failing success criterion 1.4.3
- page titles: pages titles are not unique, failing success criterion 2.4.2
- outline / border style: the stylesheet makes it difficult to see the dotted link focus outline, failing success criterion 2.4.7
- page language: this is not declared, failing success criterion 3.1.1
- buttons: there is an empty button element with no accessible name, failing success criterion 4.1.2
- forms: some form controls have blank labels or titles, which fails success criterion 4.1.2
- elements: some elements do not contain text or an img with an alt attribute, failing success criteria 2.4.4, 2.4.9 and 4.1.2
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
- PDFs and documents (pre September 2018): PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 or documents that are not essential to providing our services
- pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
- maps unless they provide core information
- content that’s under someone else’s control that we haven’t paid for or developed ourselves:
- social media buttons
How we test the site
We re-assess a website or system for accessibility whenever it undergoes a major modification.
Page content is manually checked every time it is updated.
