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Website accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to content published on the www.southglos.gov.uk domain. It does not apply to content published on service.southglos.gov.uk sub domains (for example beta.southglos.gov.uk, careers.southglos.gov.uk).

This website (www.southglos.gov.uk) is run by South Gloucestershire Council. We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.

How accessible is this website?

On this website you can:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your browser or device
  • zoom in up to 300% using your browser or device 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)

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

Parts of this website that are not fully accessible

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

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our legacy online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard or using mobile devices
  • some embedded videos do not yet have captions
  • some embedded maps do not have alternative accessible versions
  • some third-party embedded tools may not be fully accessible
  • Our homepage carousel is partially compliant as you cannot navigate it using keyboard only

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, contact us by:

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

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page, or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us using the ‘Contact’ form on this page.

Contact us by phone or in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

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

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

South Gloucestershire Council is committed to making this 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, see the non-compliance listed below.

Non accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Non-HTML documents

Some PDF documents do not comply with WCAG 2.1. We are working to ensure that all future PDF documents are compliant.

WCAG 2.4.7 Focus visible

Some legacy online forms (e.g. report an abandoned vehicle) do not have visible tab focus on the radio buttons or ‘Next’ and ‘Close’ buttons. These legacy forms are being replaced as part of an ongoing programme of work and it would be a disproportionate burden to replace them immediately.

WCAG 1.4.4 Resize text

Some legacy online forms (e.g. report an abandoned vehicle) have zoom and scaling disabled on mobile devices by use of the meta name viewport element. These legacy forms are being replaced as part of an ongoing programme of work and it would be a disproportionate burden to replace them immediately.

WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast minimum

Colours use in the headers of some of our legacy online forms (e.g. Report an abandoned vehicle) do not have sufficient colour contrast against the background. These legacy forms are being replaced as part of an ongoing programme of work and it would be a disproportionate burden to replace them immediately.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents 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 are working to fix these 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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions – live).

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

How we tested this website

We used the following tools to help test this website:

It was last tested on 24 May 2023 by our user-centred design team.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We are working on a new website to improve accessibility which is currently in beta. These new beta website pages will gradually replace existing pages on this website as we roll out changes and improvements. We are also replacing our legacy online forms as part of our Digital SouthGlos ongoing programme of work.

We are also preparing an accessibility roadmap that will be published on this page. The roadmap will set out how and when we plan to solve any accessibility issues identified.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 19 September 2019. It was last reviewed 24 May 2023.

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