Accessibility

We aim to make this website accessible to all users and therefore follow certain standards and government guidelines so that it can be used as effectively and easily as possible by everyone.

If you are experiencing any difficulties using the site please contact us.

This website is managed by Rugby Borough Council and we want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. You can: 

• 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)
• follow headings in a logical sequence
• identify images from the alt text associated with them
• use link text which describes the topic it links to

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.  

You can also change the text size on the website to make it either larger or smaller via your browser settings. Some browsers will allow you to magnify the whole page. 

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible is this website?

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible: 

• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text 
• live video streams don’t have captions
• 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

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed in this statement or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements please use the "Is there anything wrong with this page?" link on the bottom of each page.

To help us find the problem area of the website, send us:

• details about what you were trying to do and why you found it difficult
• details about your computer and software. For example, if you know or can find out the operating system and version you're using, the browser software and version you use to view the site
• if it's related to the problem you're experiencing, include any settings you have customided or any assistive technology that you use

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 are not happy with how we respond to your query or complaint contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Our offices have audio induction loops, or you can call us on 01788 533533 9.00am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Rugby 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.

The council’s website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1. 

Non accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some areas of non-compliance can be sorted out by the council and are resolved when highlighted by testing or as part of a planned improvements.   

• Some images do not have alternative text descriptions
• Empty heading tags and heading tags in incorrect order
• Correcting invalid HTML
• Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag
• Our forms and payments functionality are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (information and relationships)

Most images used on the website have a text alternative, making them available to people using a screen reader. If testing picks up problems, including missing alt text, it is corrected as soon as possible. When we publish new content or develop new online services, we test them against accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have not made any disproportionate burden claims.

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

• Historic information provided in PDF documents
• Video taken and posted on the website or social media

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs, Word documents and spreadsheets do not meet accessibility standards.  For example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We plan to review these and either fix them or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix:

• PDF documents published in relation to past Council meetings and decisions
• PDF versions of information that is also available in an alternative accessible format on the website for example information published under the Transparency Regulations
• PDF documents produced as background to the Council’s Local Plan
• PDF documents which contain information which is no longer current
• Documents and PDFs produced by other organisations but posted on the Council’s website for information

We will work to ensure any new PDFs, Word documents or spreadsheets produced by the council and then published will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Third-party applications

We require that any new third-party systems we commission for the website are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA compliant. However, most third-party applications are partly or wholly out of our control and so may not conform to the same levels of accessibility as the rest of the website. We ask suppliers to fix accessibility issues which arise.

Third party applications include:

• Payment processing screens which use Capita
• Council homes application website from Civica
• Council tax and benefits from Civica

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will improve accessibility where it is not prohibitively costly or difficult and the change is in our control such as PDF removal and image descriptions where they are editable within the content management system.

Improvements that are currently regarded as disproportionally costly will hopefully be addressed by the developers or when we replace these systems.