Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Cost of Living website.

Updated: 14 January 2022.

This website is run by Dumfries and Galloway Council and its partners and is designed to follow Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines and standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and are committed to making it as accessible, readable and usable as possible. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Change colours, contrast levels and fonts using the browser or mobile device
  • 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 are not fully accessible:

  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard. This would also be the same of PDF forms
  • There's a limit to how far you can magnify the maps on our website. The maps are embedded using third party software
  • Some tables do not have associated row headers
  • Some images do not have good alternative text or are missing
  • Some buttons are not correctly identified
  • Some warning and error messages are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some interactive tools are not fully accessibility to screen reader software
  • Some of our online services are hosted by third-party suppliers and you may find navigating these services difficult depending on their level of web accessibility - you can contact us to ask for alternative formats
  • Our older PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some pages have poor colour contrast
  • Many of our videos are embedded from YouTube and may feature labelling from YouTube itself, which is incorrect or not sufficiently descriptive
  • Some videos do not have accurate captions or text transcript

Feedback and contact information/reporting accessibility problems with this website

Please get in touch if you have an accessibility query including:

  • If you experience barriers, you can request alternative formats, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille
  • If you are having problems with accessing information or using the website
  • If you have positive feedback on any of the accessibility improvements we have made or any suggestions for things we could do better

Email: webteam@dumgal.gov.uk.

Telephone: 030 33 33 3000 and ask for the web team.

British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us by using Contact Scotland.

We will consider your request and get back to you within 10 working days.

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

Dumfries and Galloway 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.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Below are issues that we know about that we either need to fix and will do, can't fix or don't need to fix at the moment. If you find something that isn't listed below but would help improve our website's accessibility, please contact webteam@dumgal.gov.uk.

Non-accessible content

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

(We have not included any problem where we are claiming disproportionate burden or where the problem is outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.)

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Contrast

There is an element in the header on dumgal.gov.uk with low contrast to its background. Contrast issues mainly appear with the hex colour code #008793 such as in link texts and navigation elements. This can cause text to be difficult to read, especially for those with low vision, poor eyesight, or colour blindness. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast Minimum).

We are working with our CMS (Content Management System) provider to remedy this, and we estimate this will take between four and eight weeks (from 14 January 2022) to fix due to their workload. In the meantime, you can use the Recite Me toolbar on our website under the Speak/Translate menu item at the top of the page. This will allow you to apply a range of different contrasts.

Forms

Some forms' input fields, such as a text box or a radio button list, are missing labels or have incorrect labels associated with them. Without these labels people using assistive technologies might not know where to input their answer to a specific question on the form. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria 1.3.1 (Information and Relationship), 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions) and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). We plan to make all forms accessible over time as we review sections of the website. When we publish new forms, we will make sure they comply with WCAG 2.1 AA.

Some links don't make sense when read on their own (for example 'here' or 'find out more'). On some pages the same link text is used for links going to different destinations, so people might not know the difference. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose - in Context). On some pages links within text are identified only by colour and they are missing additional visual cues such as underline. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour). We plan to make all links accessible over time as we review sections of this website. When we publish new content, we will make sure our content meets accessibility standards. And we intend this year (2022) to produce writing-for-web content guidelines for all dumgal.gov.uk website contributors/updaters so future copy will not contain these accessibility problems.

Images

Some images contain text, so people with dyslexia or using a screen reader will not be able to read the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text).We plan to review these by end May 2022 and if still required on the website we will make sure they have alt text.

Any new images containing text will be reviewed before adding to dumgal.gov.uk.

Disproportionate burden

We've published a  disproportionate burden assessment where you can find out the accessibility problems we are claiming would be a disproportionate burden to fix. It looks at:

  • How we check our website
  • What work we have done to improve our website's accessibility
  • Why we think the cost of commissioning external audits and diverting scarce resource to fixing older non-essential documents that no or few people view is a disproportionate burden on our organisation
  • Timescales
  • Assessment of costs and benefits
  • Organisational size and resource limitations
  • Documents supplied to us by outside organisations

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

  • Maps and plans
  • Pre-recorded and live videos
  • PDFs and other documents published before 23 September 2018
  • Third party content that is not in our control
  • GIS mapping system
  • Payments portal
  • Planning consultations
  • Live and pre-recorded video

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We are using an online web accessibility evaluation tool called Silktide to help with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.

We will create accessibility guidance in 2022 for all Dumfries and Galloway Council staff on creating accessible webpages and PDFs, where appropriate.

The web team will take courses/attend seminars on how to create accessible digital content and speak to local authority peers, sharing best practice.

A working group will be set up to review our accessibility requirements and develop an accessibility action plan.

When working with third parties for online content we will require accessibility standards to be met and tested.

As we migrate to our new online CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform, PDFs that are application forms will be changed to accessible forms.

Where possible, we'll make sure all new content meets accessibility standards. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 14 January 2022. It was last reviewed on 17 January 2022. From end February 2022 it will be reviewed on the last working day of each month and this page updated to reflect further accessibility improvements.

This last website test was completed on 14 January 2022.

In terms of the detailed check of our main website dumgal.gov.uk, our accessibility audits have been performed manually by Dumfries and Galloway Council using accessibility analysis tools such as WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool and axe DevTools, and externally, using centralised web governance platform (and automated accessibility checker) Silktide.

The manual testing looked at a 25-strong selected sample of our website's most frequently visited webpages/types of pages. We established what pages were the highest priority/most frequently used by looking over their traffic data. We established what types of pages were most common by our knowledge of our website and liaison with our CMS provider. Sample pages audited included: homepage, top-10 most-visited webpages, content pages that are mostly text-based, pages including login functionality, pages including different document types, pop-up window, navigation pages, forms, images, video and audio content, pages containing information about accessibility.

Between November 2021 and January 2022, we undertook extensive accessibility-improvement work on both dumgal.gov.uk and info.dumgal.gov.uk, fixing a series of accessibility issues in line with our ongoing commitment to make our web estate as accessible as we can.

Fixes included

WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria: 2.4.7 (Focus Visible), 1.4.5 (Images of Text), 3.2.1 (On Focus), 1.4.3 (Contrast, Minimum), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships), 3.1.1 (Language of Page), 4.1.1 (Parsing), 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value) and 2.4.2 (Page Titled), 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).

This involved a coordinated programme of work by our external CMS provider, Business and Technology Solutions (a department of Dumfries and Galloway Council) and our web team.