Accessibility Statement for Maldon District Council
This statement applies to content published on the maldon.gov.uk domain. It does not apply to content on subdomains or other Maldon District Council owned websites.
This website is run by Maldon District 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
- Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- Zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- 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)
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Some images do not have alternate text
- Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- Some error and status messages are not announced to screen reader software. Error messages can be located after the form fields which they relate to.
- Some tab components may not work with expected keyboard commands e.g. arrow keys, but the tab key may be used to navigate.
- Using the skip link to access the search results causes the content to become hidden. You can alternatively use screen reader commands skip to the heading 1 at the start of the main content.
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, please contact us with the following information:
- The website address (URL) of the content
- The format you need
- Your name and email address
We will consider your request and get back to you.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us.
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
Maldon District Council is committed to making its websites 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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the following:
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- Some of our pages do not contain landmarks for the navigation between multiple related content pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships).
We are currently working on updating or replacing these pages.
- Some of our pages do not have visible focus when hovered or focused. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus visible).
We are currently working on updating our website to make sure these elements are highlighted when focused. - Some of our documents do not have a title. This fails WCAG 2.4.2 (Page titled).
We are working on updating our documents to include appropriate document titles. - Some of our documents do not define a natural language. This fails WCAG 3.1.1 (Language of page).
We are working on updating our documents to show the natural language of the document. - Some of our documents that do not have an HTML alternative do not have bookmarks. This fails WCAG 2.4.5 (Multiple ways).
We are working on adding bookmarks to our documents and providing an HTML alternative to our PDF documents. - Some of our links have the same name but a difference purpose on the same page. This fails WCAG 2.4.9 (Link Purpose (Link Only)).
We are currently working on changing our link names to better match their purpose. - Some pages have a scrollable region that does not have keyboard access. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).
We are currently working on updating the identified pages to allow for keyboard access. - Some pages contain text that act as headings but are not tagged as such. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and Relationships.
- Some page text is not formatted with semantic mark up. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and Relationships.
- Some form elements are not appropriately grouped or labelled. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and Relationships.
- The cookie consent information is presented in an illogical sequence. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2: Meaningful Sequence.
- Some form fields collecting personal information do not have HTML5 autofill properties. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5: Identify Input Purpose.
- Some text in the MyMaldon portal does not resize with browser adaptations. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4: Resize text.
- Where page content is presented in multiple languages the language of those parts are not programmatically set. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.2: Language of Parts.
- The mobile menu toggle button and the search results sort menu are not keyboard operable. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard.
- Using the skip link to access the search results causes the content to become hidden. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard.
- Some error messages and alerts in the MyMaldon section do not persist and disappear after several seconds. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.1: Timing Adjustable.
- Some pages do not have unique or descriptive page titles. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2: Page Titled.
- Some content links do not have meaningful link text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
- Some mobile views present content, e.g. search results tabs, that rely on path based gestures for access. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.1: Pointer Gestures.
- Some user interface labels do not contain the text that is presented visually. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3: Label in Name.
- Some pages in the MyMaldon section do not have the default language set. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1: Language of Page.
- Some text and tab components do not have sufficient colour contrast with their surrounding background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum).
- Some search components do not have a submit button and typing in the textbox causes a change that screen reader users may not be aware of. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2 On Input.
- Not all form errors are identified in text to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1: Error Identification.
- Some form instructions about expected formats or requirements are not displayed until after an error has occurred. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2: Labels or Instructions.
- Some parsing errors are found in the HTML code. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1: Parsing.
- Some components do not have appropriate programmatic name, role or values defined. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
- Some error messages and status updates are not announced to screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3: Status Messages.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
All standard content on our website must comply with the accessibility regulations because it was published before September 2019.
Content that is generated by other websites do not sit within our control and as such may not be compliant with the accessibility regulations. This would include content such as videos from YouTube or any form of online map.
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services. We are actively working to either fix or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.
If you discover content on our website that does not meet the regulations, contact us.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to work with our supplier and in-house to fix any accessibility issues accordingly within a reasonable time after they are discovered.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 08 July 2021. It was last reviewed on 28 December 2022. It was last updated on 28 December 2022.
This website is regularly tested by Maldon District Council, using a mixture of manual and automated tests to make sure the content is accessible to as many people as possible.
This website was audited throughout May and June 2022 by SimpleUsability. The audit followed the WCAG-EM methodology to test a representative sample of pages for WCAG 2.1 AA conformance. The website was tested with a range of assistive technologies including screen readers and display adaptations using a range of responsive displays and devices.
You can download a PDF version of our accessibility statement.